


The Phoenix Saga

by gluupor



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Apathy, Comic Book Violence, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Mention of Death, Minor Character Death, Swearing, Temporary Character Death, X-Men AU - Freeform, mild depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-27 13:12:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 30,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7619434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gluupor/pseuds/gluupor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After three years of self-imposed exile Remus Lupin is drawn back to the Hogwarts School for Gifted Youngsters where he joins the Order of the Phoenix, a team of superpowered mutants, in order to stop the villainous Voldemort’s evil plot.<br/>A Marauders Superhero/X-Men AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This began as a stray thought about how Professors X and Dumbledore were similar characters and somehow turned into a 30000+ word story about the adventures of Remus Lupin: X-Man. It is completely written and should be posted fairly quickly as I edit. Let me know what you think!  
> The title is a reference to the Dark Phoenix Saga, although the similarities end there.  
> Thanks to @hannaisafangirl on tumblr who gave me the idea for Snape's role in the story.

It was a typically sunny, hot Wednesday in late April when Remus Lupin’s past caught up with him.

It had been sunny and hot without any rain for weeks now. By mid-morning the temperatures were already reaching above 30 degrees (Celsius. Despite having been born in the United States and having lived there on and off for the past decade, Remus was still not used to telling temperatures using degrees Fahrenheit. Sometimes he would see a weather report showing 100 degree temperatures and believe that the End of Days was upon him), causing Remus to be glad that his work was very well air conditioned.

He worked several afternoons a week stocking shelves and manning the front desk of the public library. The pay was very little; barely enough to cover rent for his basement apartment and keep him fed and his truck running. He supplemented his income from time to time by tutoring high school students, but his frequent debilitating migraines and subsequent violent episodes did not allow him to commit to regular working hours.

All in all he lived a sad, quiet existence and tried his hardest to forget his painful memories.

Three years ago he had not believed he could escape. He had run from his problems, settling down in Phoenix, which he had chosen as much for the irony as he had for the size of the population, hiding from those who would follow him. At first he had been jumpy, forever checking over his shoulder, thinking it would not be long before someone came for him. But after months of nothing he realized that no one was looking for him and he gradually relaxed. He went about his days quietly and politely, interacting with as few people as possible, periodically chaining himself up when he became violent, and pretending to be human.

Remus did not associate the two teen (or possibly pre-teen, he wasn’t very good as assigning exact ages to that age group) girls with trouble when they first entered the library. The girl who was clearly the leader of the two had dark skin, brown, bushy hair, and large front teeth. She was wearing a school uniform that he did not recognize and surveying the library with intelligent brown eyes. Once she saw him she began to walk purposefully towards him, while the other girl, who had long dirty blonde hair that was done up in an intricate braid, followed behind like a dog. Her protuberant grey eyes roamed the library in a dreamy way.

“Yes?” he asked them when they had reached him.

“We need your help, Moony,” said the brown-haired girl, speaking the name deliberately.

A cold chill ran down Remus’ spine. “That is not my name,” he said, keeping a vaguely pleasant and puzzled look on his face.

“Yes, it is,” snapped the brown-haired girl. “We don’t have  _ time _ for this! Look, the two of us are -” at this she glanced around herself to ensure that there were no eavesdroppers and lowered her voice to a whisper “-  _ mutants. _ And my power is the ability to transfer my consciousness back in time. This may be the first time you have seen us, but this is the fourth time that I’ve come to you for help. Death Eaters are after us; they will kill us. They already have three times; I’m hoping this time I won’t have to come back to try again.”

Remus felt ill. He had really hoped that he had left this life behind. “How can I trust that you are not luring me into a trap?”

“You gave me a message,” said the brown-haired girl, “to give to you so that I can prove that I am telling the truth. Something only you know.”

He made a gesture to indicate that she should tell him the message; there were not many things that she could say that would make him believe her.

“You said that your biggest secret is that you wish they’d been too late.”

Remus briefly closed his eyes, fighting off the memories that this statement brought. It was true, of course, and he couldn’t imagine that anyone else would know. “How do I know that your power isn’t actually telepathy and that you just read my mind?”

“You said that telepathy doesn’t work well on you. And that you’re going to take us to Aberforth and he will tell you if we can be believed,” replied the brown-haired girl.

He decided to trust her. After all, if she were lying he would be the only one to come to harm and it wasn’t like he mattered that much. It would be smart to take them Aberforth before allowing them access Hogwarts.

“Alright,” said Remus, getting up and leaving. “My apartment’s not far from here; I’ll go pack a bag.”

“No time,” said the brown-haired girl sharply. “That’s where they caught up with us the first time.” She shuddered. “It was not pretty. Let’s go straight to your truck and get out of town.”

He led them out the back of the library and headed through the alley towards where he had left his truck. He was thankful that he had decided to bring it into work today.

“So I previously told you about Aberforth?” he asked the girls. “He’s worked a long time keeping mutants safe from both the Death Eaters and the MRDC.”

“Yes,” said the brown-haired girl. “You said he lives in Alberta. Then we discussed how it will take us a couple days to drive there, but that we don’t have passports.”

“Well then, illegal border crossing it is,” he said with a reassuring smile trying to cover up how disconcerting he found this girl. “Can you tell me your names as I don’t have your past-future knowledge?”

“I’m Hermione,” said the brown-haired girl. “She’s Luna.”

“Does she speak?” asked Remus.

“You have wrackspurts flying about your head, did you know?” Luna asked him guilelessly.

Hermione had a very sour expression on her face. “Rarely,” she answered.

**********

It was an hour later before Hermione relaxed enough that Remus felt that he could resume questioning her. They had piled into his truck, reached interstate 17, and were now travelling north.

“Do your parents know where you are?” he asked. “Am I going to be pulled over and arrested for kidnapping two underage girls?”

“Sure they know,” said Hermione, unconvincingly. Remus gave her a sharp look. “Well, not exactly,” she conceded. “I mean, they don’t exactly know where we are. But they know that we’re heading to Hogwarts. We’re not from Phoenix; we travelled here to get you.”

“How did you know I was here?”

“Luna’s psychic or prescient or something, I don’t know. She just seems to know things. Anyway, she suddenly got the idea into her head that she had to travel to New Orleans to get me, and that we had to travel to Phoenix to get you so that you could take us to Hogwarts.”

“And your parents were fine with that?”

“As far as I can tell, Luna’s parents sent her off on her quest with a smile and the advice not to confide in blibbering humdingers. From what she’s told me they sound like weird new-age hippies or something. I think they trust completely in her ability. Mine were … happy that I was going somewhere for mutants.”

“Ah,” said Remus sympathetically, “they’re anti-mutant?”

“Not … not really,” said Hermione. “They’re fine with mutants as long as they stay ‘among their own kind’ and don’t impact their lives at all.”

“So long as they can pretend that there isn’t someone on the planet who can shoot laser beams out of their eyeballs they can live their happy, simple lives?”

“Basically. I think they were really disappointed that I didn’t turn out normal.”

“Hey,” said Remus softly, “I understand. It’s a common enough story among mutants. It’s their loss. You’re obviously bright and talented. You’ll find a new family at Hogwarts.”

“Yeah?” asked Hermione, hope shining in her eyes.

“I did.”

“Oh,” said Hermione, obviously surprised. “You went to Hogwarts? Even though …” she trailed off.

“Even though what? And didn’t I tell you this before?”

“Every time previously we mostly ran for our lives, we didn’t have time for idle chit chat. And I was going to say that I was surprised you went to Hogwarts because Luna told me that you’re not a mutant.”

“I’m not,” he agreed, ignoring the old hurt that this admission brought, “but I do have powers. They’re just not due to a natural mutation like yours are.”

“I know you have powers. I’ve seen you pull someone’s arm off.”

“I did what?” Remus was shocked; he usually had to give into his anger to do something like that and he hadn’t felt anything except for apathy for months now.

“Pulled the arm off of one of the Death Eaters the second time they caught us. You were killed shortly afterwards.”

“It’s super creepy when you talk about my death,” he told her. “Do you know the powers of the Death Eaters chasing us?”

“No,” she answered. “Mostly when they catch us you get Luna and me to hide and you tell me to jump back if it sounds like you’re losing or have lost. I haven’t gotten a good look at them. You know them, though. You always recognize them. If they catch us again you should tell me their names so that I can tell you.”

“Can you jump me back with you?”

“Possibly. I’ve never tried to bring anyone back with me. The side effects are vertigo and nausea and it’s worse the farther back you go. I generally only jump back a couple hours. Once I went back four days and I was so sick that I was basically unable to move for a full 24 hours.”

“The next time I see them, couldn’t we all just hide and observe them and then you could jump us back and we could ambush them? We’d know what they’d be doing.”

“No,” Hermione said. “It doesn’t work like that. When my dad first found out that I could jump back in time he wanted me to look up things like lottery numbers or sports results and then jump back and tell him so that he could make some money. But things almost never happen the same way.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’s like … I get a second chance. All the choices that I’ve made I get to remake. But everyone else  _ also gets to redo all their choices _ . They don’t realize that that’s what they’re doing, but it changes things a lot from my perspective. So for the Death Eaters chasing us we would see them at a certain location but that’s only because we were already at that location. And if we weren’t they would make a different choice.”

“Where did they catch up to us before?”

“We hadn’t left Phoenix yet. This time we got out much faster, thanks to you trusting me.”

“If this is the fourth time you’ve done this today, aren’t you hungry? Tired?”

“Yes to both, but saving all our lives seems slightly more important than worrying about that.”

“We’ll be in Flagstaff in about 90 minutes. We’ll stop for food there and you can nap until then.”

“Make sure to wake me up if they get close.” Hermione said and then leaned back her head and shut her eyes.

“They’ll be happy to see you again,” said Luna suddenly. Remus hadn’t been aware that she was paying any attention. She had been humming happily while watching the scenery go by.

“The Death Eaters?” he asked.

“No, Moony,” she said. “Your family.”

He felt a sharp pain in his chest. “I no longer have a family,” he gritted out.

Luna just gave him an even look as if she could see into his soul. “They miss you. You can’t punish them forever.”

Remus sighed. “I miss them, too,” he admitted quietly.

Hermione suddenly sat up with a gasp. “The Death Eaters are called Crabbe, Goyle, and Malfoy. They caught up to us at a rest stop just outside of Flagstaff. You died again so I couldn’t bring you back.”

_ Fuck, _ thought Remus.  _ Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. _

“Crabbe can manipulate fire,” he told them, impressed with how calm he sounded. “It’s probably his arm that I pulled off. Goyle is basically a big boulder; he’s one of the only people who can hold his own in a fight against me. Malfoy is probably the most dangerous person you’ll ever come across. Don’t let him speak to you. Put your hands over your ears and hum. He’s persuasive. He can get anybody to do anything. He can make people turn on their best friends. If he told me to, I would pull my  _ own _ arm off. If he told me to, I would kill you without hesitation.”

“The fourth one was a rat,” Luna put in.

Hermione looked at her. “There were only three of them.”

“Of course,” Luna said apologetically. “My mistake.” She gave Remus a meaningful look like she was trying to impart some vitally important information.

It took Remus a couple moments to put it together. It felt like a gut punch when he did. “No problem,” he said cheerily, hiding his new knowledge and frantically trying to come up with a plan. “We’ll just take the exit to highway 69 and head north until we hit interstate 40. Then we’ll head west to Las Vegas. They won’t expect us to go there; it’s out of our way.”

Hermione looked confused as Remus drove past the exit to highway 69. “Isn’t that …” she started, but Luna put her hand on Hermione’s arm and silently shook her head. Hermione looked at Remus and then back at Luna, shrugged, and put her head back to nap.

**********

Just outside of Flagstaff Remus was thinking that he was going to have to buy gas soon when Hermione put a hand on his arm and gestured to the sign they were passing. The sign advertised a gas station and fast food rest stop so Remus took the next exit. When they reached the rest stop, he drove around to the back parking lot where they were completely alone and out of sight. Luna pointed at her backpack, which had been resting at her feet.

“You know what?” said Remus suddenly. “We should probably set your backpacks on fire.” He still couldn’t believe that with all the time he'd had to come up with a plan this was the best he could do. James would have been so disappointed.

“What?” shrieked Hermione. “Are you insane? You can’t set all my belongings on fire! My favourite books are in my bag! All the things I couldn’t live without!”

“I’m sorry,” said Remus. “My truck, my rules. You can’t get to Hogwarts without me, so you have to do as I say.”

Luna had calmly taken her backpack and walked out of the truck to the border of the parking lot and set it down next to a copse of trees. Hermione, still muttering angrily, followed Luna's example. Remus sent Luna into the gas station to buy some lighter fluid and a lighter while sending Hermione into the forested area to collect sticks. He walked loudly over to his truck and then crept back towards the backpacks, as quietly as he could, to wait.

He didn’t have to wait long. As soon as it was completely silent near the bags a small shape, approximately the size of a rat, crept out of Luna’s backpack. Remus grabbed it immediately. It struggled in his grip and then began to stretch and grow until it was a fully grown man.

“Hello, Peter,” said Remus pleasantly and then punched the man very hard in the face.


	2. Chapter 2

Remus nervously sat smoking on the tailgate of his truck, the ground in front of him littered with cigarette butts. After he had knocked Peter out, Remus had rid him of all communication and tracking devices, restrained him with jumper cables, and made a phone call on a nearby payphone that he had sworn never to make. Hermione and Luna had been sent to hide in the nearby trees and Hermione had been given strict instructions that if Peter escaped or if she and Luna were discovered to jump back in time and warn Remus. Her power really was quite handy, Remus mused. He felt almost guilty about taking her to Albus who would surely rope her into working for him. Still, Hogwarts was the least terrible of her options. And Remus had bigger things to feel guilty about.

Such as turning Peter over to the MRDC.

The Mutant Research and Defense Council was a multi-national organization that had been founded in the early eighties following the so-called “Mutant Incident” of 1981 when it was revealed to the world both that mutants existed and that they could be dangerous. In theory the MRDC was a benevolent organization that studied the prevalence of mutant superpowers in society and provided defence for the non-mutant members of the public; in practice the MRDC struck terror into the hearts of mutants everywhere. They were headquartered in Washington, D.C., had close ties to the U.S. military, and the mutants that they took into custody were rarely ever heard from again.

Remus’ association with the MRDC had begun when he was quite young. His father had worked in the Research division, attempting to invent a way for normal humans to be given superpowers, the aim of which was to provide the MRDC with superpowered soldiers to fight against mutants. He eventually came up with a serum that he called “the wolf serum” that would give the recipient super strength and resistance to pain, as well as increased agility, stamina, and senses. Although the serum was successful at creating superpowers in the squad of soldiers chosen to be test subjects, the side effects were disastrous. All test subjects reported that they felt that they had gained a new consciousness; one that was incredibly angry and violent. They all experienced blackouts when this second consciousness, nicknamed “the wolf”, took over their bodies. All but one of them succumbed to the wolf permanently and were driven insane.

The remaining soldier, Staff Sergeant Fenrir Greyback, was able to achieve harmony with his second consciousness, likely due to his already angry and violent tendencies. The loss of his entire squad drove him to want revenge against the entire MRDC and against Dr. Lyall Lupin in particular. He managed to steal a dose of the wolf serum, broke into the Lupins’ house one evening and injected Remus.

Lyall had been devastated. All his life he had worked towards protecting the world from superpowered humans and now his son was one of them. In a fit of grief and rage he destroyed all his research and all of the remaining wolf serum. He then begged Albus Dumbledore, a well-known mutant advocate, for help with controlling Remus’ powers. Dumbledore had taken Remus, aged five, to Hogwarts.

Remus managed to avoid the MRDC for the following twenty years until they finally apprehended him in his mid-twenties. They detained him for two years, forcing him through military training and running a series of tests on him, trying to reverse-engineer the wolf serum. He had eventually been released when he had reluctantly agreed to work for them by capturing dangerous mutants. He had vowed that he would never actually do the work they wanted him to; never put another person with powers through the pain and agony he had endured; never help the MRDC oppress the people that he considered his own.

Until now.

Three years ago Peter had betrayed the Order of the Phoenix and framed Remus for it. He had caused the destruction of the happy life that Remus had found. Now Remus had apprehended him, but Hogwarts did not have the appropriate facilities to keep Peter locked up. What other choice did he have other than to ask the MRDC to hold Peter? What would the others have done? James, he was certain, would try to rehabilitate Peter; Lily would want to punish him in some way, but not give him to people who would experiment on him; Sirius would probably have just killed him.

Remus’ attention was caught by three black SUVs with “MRDC” painted on the side of them entering the parking lot.

_ Subtle, _ he thought, rolling his eyes.

Men armed with tasers jumped out of the vehicles and made a semi-circle around the end of his truck keeping their weapons trained on him.

“You know,” said Remus mildly to the man with short, stylish, black hair and an expensive suit who was climbing out of the second SUV, “I called you. I’m not sure this show of force is completely necessary.”

“We wouldn’t want the prisoner escaping,” said Regulus Black mockingly, with a sharp grin. He looked at Peter curiously. “Is he dead?”

Remus flicked his cigarette butt away and crossed his arms. “Concussed. Maybe slightly brain damaged. I punched him pretty hard.”

“As was your prerogative.” Regulus waved his hand dismissively. The soldiers came over to get Peter, carrying him to one of the SUVs. Remus jumped off the tailgate and sauntered over to Regulus.

“I still can’t believe you joined an  _ anti-mutant _ organization,” he said.

“If we want to get technical, you also joined them.”

“Under duress. Plus this is the first time in almost four years that I’ve actually done my job for them. You, on the other hand, joined willingly.”

“Needs must,” replied Regulus. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that rot.”

“They’re also your enemy.”

Regulus gave a sharp smile. “Not currently. They pay me an exorbitant amount of money for information and pretend that I can’t animate the dead; I get to strike back against the man who wants to hurt my family; it’s a win-win scenario.”

“Your pragmatism always surprises me.”

“That’s because you expect me to be like Sirius who makes decisions based purely on his emotions. Everything's going well for me so far.”

“Until they decide to study your powers or they decide to just start killing all mutants.”

“I’ve missed your pessimism. Besides, those both sound like problems for Future Regulus. Present Regulus is perfectly happy with his decisions.”

Remus rolled his eyes. “Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle are running around somewhere near here. I think I successfully misdirected them towards Vegas if you want to look for them.”

“How about you catch them and I take all the credit? How’d you catch Peter, anyway?”

Remus shrugged. “Skill.”

Regulus snorted and shook his head. “Look,” he said more quietly, “I made a call before I came out to get Peter. I wanted to let everyone at Hogwarts know that you had suddenly resurfaced. They’re sending you a ride.” He handed Remus his business card which had the address of a nearby airfield written on it.

Remus looked skeptically at the card. “What if I don’t want to go back?”

“Well then burn the card and continue hiding in a hole in the ground, I certainly don’t care,” said Regulus. “Your issues will catch up with you eventually.”

“Sounds like a problem for Future Remus,” Remus deadpanned.

Regulus shook his head fondly, then straightened his suit jacket and took off towards his SUV. “Later, Lupin,” he called.

“I actually hope to avoid you in the future, Black,” Remus shot back dryly. He heard Regulus give a short laugh before getting into his car. The three SUVs took off into the night.

Remus flipped the business card in his hand and stared at it pensively, before straightening up, taking a deep breath, and calling, “Hermione? Luna? You can come out now. We’ve got a plane to catch.”

**********

As the three of them watched the small plane come in for a landing, Hermione began babbling nervously. “I mean, I’ve done all the research. I know that it’s technically safe to fly in a small plane like that. And the trip is only about six hours, and the pilots have probably flown the plane before, so the chances are really low that we’ll crash.”

“If we crash, you can jump back to right now and warn us not to get on the plane,” suggested Remus.

Hermione glared. “That is not comforting! I still have to go through that! Shouldn’t you be saying something about how we’ll be fine?”

“From my perspective you would have warned us by now, so I’m sure it will be fine. You could ask Luna if that would make you feel better.”

“Luna told me that as long as the plane wasn’t infested by vampires that it would be fine,” said Hermione acidly.

“Okay, so we’ll just not board if there’s a vampire flying the plane,” teased Remus.

“Somehow that doesn’t ease my fears,” sighed Hermione.

The plane rolled to a stop and a young man with brown hair who Remus didn’t recognize disembarked.

“Lupin, party of three?” the man called.

Remus approached the man who was giving him an exaggerated ‘don’t you know who I am?’ expression.

“You really don’t recognize me?  _ Me, _ Moony?” the man laughed and as he laughed his appearance changed into that of a young woman with a heart shaped face and short bubblegum pink hair. Hermione and Luna both gasped in shock. The woman threw herself at Remus and hugged him tightly. “I’ve  _ missed _ you, you big mopey jerk.”

“Hello, Nym,” said Remus fondly while returning her hug. Then he gave a start. “Are they letting you  _ fly the plane?  _ You’re a child.”

“I’m the co-pilot. And I’m not a child. I’m twenty, now, you know. Just because you’ve been off hiding under a rock, or wandering around solitarily, or being morose, or whatever it is you’ve been doing, doesn’t mean that the rest of the world hasn’t continued on. And it’s  _ Tonks _ , Remus.”

“I’ve known you since you were born; I’m not calling you by your last name.”

“Are you one of the teachers?” Hermione asked hesitatingly.

“No, can you imagine? What would I teach?”

“Clumsiness?” suggested Remus teasingly. “Maybe mischief?”

“Hush, you,” Tonks answered with false severity. “And James already teaches mischief. Although I wouldn’t mind getting in on those staff meetings, if you know what I mean.”

“I do not,” said Remus.

“She means that she has a gigantic crush on the new french teacher,” said a tall, black man from inside the plane. “Tonks, stop wasting time and get them into the plane. Good to see you again, Remus.”

“Hello, Kingsley,” greeted Remus, following Tonks onto the plane. “Is the new french teacher blonde? Nym’s got a thing for blondes.”

“I do not have a  _ thing _ for blondes!” Tonks objected.

“She most certainly is,” replied Kingsley, ignoring Tonks’ protest. “And Tonks has been speaking horrible french to try to impress her.”

“My french isn’t horrible!” whined Tonks. “Pourquoi mentez-vous?”

Remus laughed at her and winced at her pronunciation. “You don’t actually try to impress her with that, do you?” Tonks punched his arm and headed towards the cockpit. 

“Where are we headed?” Remus asked.

“Aberforth’s,” answered Kingsley, as he too headed back into the cockpit. “The old man says you must talk to Aberforth before you’re granted access to Hogwarts.”

“Don’t worry, Hermione. Kingsley is not a vampire,” said Remus, settling himself into a seat. Hermione gave him an unimpressed glare. Remus leaned his head back, closed his eyes, and waited for the plane to take him back to the place that he still considered home.

**********

It was quite late when they reached Aberforth’s. Aberforth lived by himself on a goat farm in northwest Alberta. His farm was incredibly isolated but had a landing strip for the plane. Kingsley and Tonks took off upstairs to sleep as soon as they arrived. Aberforth, having empathic abilities - he was able to tell if someone was lying and could easily read people’s intentions - asked Hermione and Luna to tell him that they meant no harm to anyone at Hogwarts and that they would not share information about its location or any happenings there. Once they had done so they were also sent off to sleep.

He poured a drink for Remus and then took a seat across the table from him, giving him a long, hard look. “What have you been doing with yourself, boy?”

“I’m hardly a boy,” protested Remus mildly.

“To me you’ll always be that five year old that wouldn’t stop growling at my goats. Don’t avoid the question.”

“The goats deserved it,” said Remus. Aberforth didn’t look amused or break eye contact. Remus sighed heavily. “I’ve been in Phoenix.”

“Ironic,” said Aberforth approvingly. “Why do you look like you haven’t properly eaten or slept since I saw you last?”

“I’m fine,” protested Remus.

“Well that was a lie,” said Aberforth while continuing to study him thoughtfully. “And a poor one at that. I thought I taught you to lie better than that. It’s getting worse?”

Remus didn’t say anything, but took a drink of his whiskey and met Aberforth’s eyes almost defiantly.

“Damn,” said Aberforth quietly, almost under his breath. “Anyway, you did a good thing for those girls, bringing them here safely.”

“Apparently I only had to die four times to do so.”

“Useful trick that girl has.”

“I assume the old man will find a use for it, yes.”

Aberforth chuckled. “He wants to talk to you.”

“I imagine he does,” replied Remus, completely deadpan.

“You used to say that you were in his debt.”

“Everyone at Hogwarts is in his debt,” argued Remus, “and he uses the power that grants him to further his own agenda without regard for the best interest of others, without assessing the consequences of his actions, and without considering how damaging the repercussions can be.”

Aberforth laughed out loud at that. “You’re not wrong. And I know that you’ve suffered because of his choices. But you’re going to see him anyway.”

“Am I?” challenged Remus.

“Yes, you owe it to your godson.”

That took away Remus’ desire to argue. “How is he?”

“Harry? He’s fine. Playing sports, getting into trouble,” Aberforth paused for a beat and took a sip of his drink. “His power has manifested.”

“Yeah? What’s his ability?” asked Remus.

“He has extremely fast cellular regeneration. He heals quickly and completely and he’s basically immortal. I’m sure you know what that means for him.”

Remus’ breath caught as he thought through the ramifications. He let his head fall onto the table with a thunk. “Damn,” he whispered. “Damn, damn, damn, damn,  _ damn _ .”

“Exactly,” agreed Aberforth.


	3. Chapter 3

When Remus staggered into the kitchen looking for coffee the following morning, Tonks was sitting with Hermione and Luna at the kitchen table telling them about Hogwarts and changing her appearance for their amusement. Both Hermione and Luna were wearing large sweaters that obviously belonged to Aberforth; the April temperatures in northern Alberta were incredibly chilly, especially for those who had been in Phoenix the day before.

“Morning, Remus!” Tonks greeted cheerily. “Kingsley is out prepping the plane so we can leave as soon as you’re finished breakfast.” Remus just grunted in acknowledgement and put a couple slices of bread into the toaster.

“So you don’t live at Hogwarts, then, Tonks?” asked Hermione.

“Oh, no,” said Tonks. “I live in Hogsmeade.”

Hermione just looked at her blankly. “Hogwarts is pretty remote in order to keep us mutants safely away from the general population,” explained Tonks. “Hogsmeade is the little town just outside of it. It’s completely populated by mutants. Usually those who can’t pass as normal humans and need somewhere safe to live. And also humans married to mutants, like my dad. My parents moved there before I was born. Remus grew up there, too.”

“Sort of,” Remus conceded. “First I lived here with Aberforth until I was better able to control my anger. When I was about eight I moved in with the Potters in Hogsmeade.”

“Oh man that reminds me,” laughed Tonks. “James was in rare form yesterday when I was leaving. He basically wanted me to tell you that he loves you and then hug you and kiss you and wrap you in a blanket and pet your hair and sing you to sleep.” Hermione looked between them with a baffled look on her face. 

“James is Remus’ mother,” explained Tonks with a wink.

“James is not my mother,” said Remus dryly. “He’s my age. It was his family that I went to live with in Hogsmeade and he’s always been a little overprotective.”

“A little overprotective, ha!” giggled Tonks. “He’s going to be so worked up about the fact that you look like you haven’t eaten or slept for three years. Hey, do you think he’ll enjoy Hermione’s story about how you recently  _ died four times? _ ”

“You will  _ not _ be telling him that,” Remus gritted out. “My prolonged absence will have hurt him enough without adding the knowledge of my past-future sort-of death.”

“Well,” said Tonks as she ceased laughing abruptly, “at least you’re acknowledging that when you suddenly left without warning and never contacted anyone again you may have affected some of us negatively.” She gave him a stern expression.

“I needed to leave,” said Remus quietly, ripping his toast into small pieces. “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

Tonks looked at him thoughtfully for a couple moments and then broke out a sunny smile. “You devastated me!” she cried, jokingly. “I had the  _ biggest _ crush on you.”

Remus laughed, breaking the tension. “You did not, you liar,” he said. “You were dating that blonde telepath - what was her name? Emma?”

“Emmeline,” sighed Tonks dreamily. “So pretty. A word of advice to you girls? Don’t date a telepath. You tell her once that her blouse isn’t ugly without really meaning it and you never live it down.”

Aberforth came in while they were all laughing. “The plane’s ready,” he said. “Get out of my house.”

“I’ve never understood how you don’t have more friends, Abe,” said Tonks cheerfully. “You’re so charming.”

**********

Hogwarts School for Gifted Youngsters was a large mansion that was located in a remote valley surrounded by mountains in British Columbia. They arrived shortly after noon. Tonks offered to take Hermione and Luna to see Minerva McGonagall, the director of the school, to get them settled in while Remus went to meet with the old man.

Albus Dumbledore was one of the leading advocates for mutant rights on the planet. The protections he provided allowed mutants to live in safety and peace. Using his vast family fortune he had founded Hogwarts School as a haven for young superpowered humans to learn to control their powers and he had created the Order of the Phoenix, an elite group of mutants that were sworn to protect both mutants and humans alike. He promoted a future where mutants and humans could live together in peace.

Remus had once idolized the man. He had allowed Remus to live at and attend Hogwarts despite of the disagreement of other mutants caused by the synthetic and volatile nature of Remus’ powers. Remus had learned through hard experience that it was not out of the goodness of Dumbledore’s heart that he had been allowed access to the school. No, it was because Dumbledore had seen a use for his powers and so had attempted to keep him blindly loyal through gratitude.

Remus walked the familiar path through the school until he reached Dumbledore’s office and knocked. He heard the invitation to enter and opened the door. Without saying anything, he took the seat across a desk from Dumbledore and met the man’s blue eyes with a steady gaze.

“Ah, Remus, welcome,” said Dumbledore pleasantly.

Remus simply inclined his head, leaned his elbows on the desk, and continued to meet Dumbledore’s eyes. Dumbledore gave a slight frown. Remus knew that it was difficult for Dumbledore to use his telepathic powers on him because of the wolf consciousness.

After several minutes of them silently regarding each other, Dumbledore broke the silence. “It’s good to see you again, Remus. What has it been, three years?”

Remus gave a slight nod. “Yes, three years since I was falsely accused of betraying the only family I had ever known and was asked to leave my home.”

“And now you’ve caught Peter Pettigrew,” Dumbledore said blithely, as if he had had no role in false accusations against Remus or in his dismissal, “so that can be put behind us.”

Remus steepled his fingers together and brought his hands up in front of his face. “I’m only here because Aberforth told me about Harry’s power.”

“Ah, yes, I was hoping Aberforth could convince you to return. It’s quite unfortunate for young Harry.”

“Voldemort is after him, then?”

“We believe so. Although, it is not clear how Tom discovered Harry’s power.”

“I’m sure it has nothing to do with you allowing free access to Hogwarts to people who have previously proven that their loyalties are fluid and that they do not have the well-being of the school’s residents at heart,” Remus said sarcastically.

“People are entitled to more than one chance to prove themselves worthy.”

“In my experience those who you know you can control are given infinite opportunities to prove themselves, while those who question your agenda are left to be imprisoned or exiled.” The two men stared at each other coolly. “I have no loyalty to you, old man,” said Remus. “But I do have loyalty to the Potters. If I thought it would be beneficial I would take Harry far, far away from you and your manipulations.” He sighed deeply. “However, I believe that Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix are the least of three evils and so I have come to join you and offer my services.”

“Excellent,” said Dumbledore, as if he had not heard the uncomplimentary part of Remus’ declaration. “I was hoping to find a practical defence teacher. As you know, many of our students rely solely on their powers to defend themselves. You’ve had military training. I want you to teach them physical self-defence as well as problem solving and situational awareness.”

“You want me to make use of the military training I was forced to endure during my captivity that you helped orchestrate?”

“We’ve been over this before, Remus. I certainly did not arrange your imprisonment by the MRDC.”

“You also didn’t prevent it or use any of your considerable influence to free me. And now you want to benefit from my time there.”

“The benefit would be to the students.”

“And you would receive no advantage? For instance, making them better soldiers for you?”

“I don’t want soldiers,” said Dumbledore frowning.

Remus simply raised an eyebrow. “Then you have changed since I last saw you.”

“I feel your anger at me is entirely misplaced. I have only ever done what I thought was the best for all.”

“I am not angry. I simply no longer hold you in respect as it seems that your actions have only ever benefited yourself,” said Remus blandly.

A brief flash of anger passed across Dumbledore’s face before he smoothed it out. “You offered your services to Hogwarts and to the Order. This is what we require. Will you teach the class?” Remus hesitated slightly and then nodded. Dumbledore continued, “Class will begin on Monday. There is an Order meeting this weekend. No one has moved into your old room in the south wing so you may return there. I’ve got a lot of work to do, so you’re dismissed.”

Remus got up and without acknowledging Dumbledore again he left the office and went to find his room.

**********

Remus found his room was exactly as he’d left it three years previously. His clothes still filled the dresser and closet, although he did seem to be missing several of his favourite sweaters; his books still filled the bookshelf; the desk was still covered in his papers. And his pictures all remained, showing happy times with the people he had considered his family.

When Remus had first come to Hogwarts shortly after his fifth birthday he had been angry. He was filled with uncontrollable anger all the time and lashed out at those around him. The older mutants that resided in Hogsmeade wanted to send him back to the MRDC as his synthetic powers frightened them. Although there were many mutant children living in the village, their powers did not manifest until puberty when the children were more equipped to deal with the changes. Handling a five year old with super strength and the inability to control his temper was beyond their capabilities. Albus Dumbledore had disagreed. He had sent Remus to Aberforth who had gradually taught Remus meditation and other calming techniques to subdue the wolf consciousness within him.

Aberforth had also taught him how to hide his anger. “You can be angry,” Aberforth had told him, “but you must not let it show. Don’t ever let anyone see your anger. As soon as you show your anger they will be frightened and they will see you as a dangerous thing. Humans will dismiss you as nothing more than an angry mutant and mutants will dismiss you as nothing more than a failed human experiment.” Remus had internalized that lesson.

Remus still experienced times when he could not subdue his wolf consciousness. These times were always preceded by a debilitating migraine. Remus’ own consciousness was then completely suppressed and the wolf lashed out violently. Remus absolutely hated the complete loss of control and the fact that his body was being used without his permission or knowledge. During these times Remus had to be restrained to keep both himself and others safe. Luckily these episodes only occurred a handful of times a year.

Once Remus had learned to control his anger and his powers he was sent to live with a family in Hogsmeade. The Potters had lived in Hogsmeade since Dumbledore had founded it, having fled the extreme anti-mutant hostility that they faced in their home country of India. Remus knew that Euphemia and Fleamont Potter cared for him quite a lot, but he could still detect fear in their faces whenever he slightly lost his temper. This was true of all the residents of Hogsmeade; Remus knew that they still saw him as an outsider and that he could never truly be one of them.

The only person who never seemed frightened of him was James Potter. James had been asking his parents for a little brother for years and when Remus came to live with them James was delighted. He instantly decided that Remus must be his biological little brother despite the fact the Remus was a) white, b) not a mutant, and c) older than him. Logic had never mattered much to James when it stood in the way of him getting what he wanted.

The young mutants who grew up in Hogsmeade were generally sent to Hogwarts as soon as their powers manifested. It was decided that, despite some parental opposition, Remus would be allowed to go to Hogwarts as soon as James did. James’ power, the ability to turn himself invisible, revealed itself the summer after he turned eleven and the following autumn he and Remus had started at Hogwarts. Two other mutants also began Hogwarts that September and they all shared a dorm. The first was Peter Pettigrew who had just arrived at Hogwarts after calling the Toll-free Mutant Helpline that the Order of the Phoenix operated across North America in order to help them find and rescue persecuted mutants. The second was Sirius Black who had moved to Hogsmeade with his cousin Andromeda only one month previously.

The four of them got along incredibly well and Remus found that Peter and Sirius, like James, were not frightened of him and that he was included and truly liked. James had decided that the four of them needed secret superhero names to help with their mischief and then immediately proved that twelve year olds should not be in charge of naming superheroes by assigning them the names of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs.

They also serendipitously discovered that Sirius’ power could knock out Remus’ wolf consciousness when it gained control, causing Remus’ body to simply sleep until his own consciousness could reassert itself. Despite typical arguments and troubles, they had been incredibly happy for their entire time at Hogwarts.

Remus studied the photographs on his dresser. The centre one was a picture of the four of them, arm in arm, probably around age fifteen, laughing at some joke he couldn’t remember. There were pictures of them swimming in the summer and having snowball fights in the winter. There was James playing hockey, Peter up a tree throwing pine cones at the rest of them, Sirius and Remus dancing at James’ wedding. He picked up a photo of himself holding a toddler-sized Harry and examined the expression of absolute happiness that had been on his face. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been truly happy; he wasn’t sure he was even capable of it anymore.

Remus sighed deeply and sat on his bed, putting his head in his hands. He didn’t think that he could be the man that smiled in those photographs; the man that Luna had claimed was missed. He knew that he had had to come back here since he had sworn to protect his godson, but he wasn’t sure if he belonged here anymore. He wasn’t sure that he ever really had.

**********

After sitting around feeling sorry for himself for a while, Remus glanced at the clock. He noted that dinner would be served in approximately an hour, and since he was still wearing the clothes he had fled Phoenix in yesterday, topped with one of Aberforth’s sweaters, he should probably wash up and change clothes before confronting all the people he had left behind.

He stealthily stuck his head out the door; he didn’t want anyone seeing him before he’d prepared himself. There was no one in the hallway. He crept out of his door and eased it quietly closed. Then he turned towards the washrooms and James Potter was standing directly in front of him glaring angrily with his arms crossed.

“Leaving so soon?” he accused.

“Christ, James, no!” gasped Remus, feeling like he’d jumped out of his skin. “You scared me! I was just going to wash up for dinner!”

“Oh,” said James, visibly deflating. “I guess that’s okay then.”

Remus tried to get his breathing and heart rate under control. “What if I had punched you? I could have really hurt you! Were you just waiting in the hallway  _ being invisible? _ ”

“I thought you were going to try to sneak out without seeing us,” said James sulkily.

Remus was considering that when he was suddenly grabbed and pulled into a tight hug. James was rubbing his hands up and down Remus’ back, whispering “I’m so glad you’re here” and “Missed you so much” over and over against his neck. Remus let himself relax and hugged James back.

James pulled back and held Remus at arm’s length, running his eyes over Remus’ face like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “You look tired,” he said finally. “And you haven’t been eating enough. And you have new scars. Obviously you haven’t been looking after yourself properly. But it’s okay now. You’re back. We love you and we’ll take care of you.”


	4. Chapter 4

After reassuring James that he hadn’t been planning on leaving (“You’ve avoided us for three years, Moony, you can’t blame me for thinking you would try to sneak out.”), discussing his clothing options (“Make sure to dress warmly enough, Moony. I can tell from your slight tan and lightweight clothes that you’ve been somewhere warm, but there’s still snow on the ground here. It gets very chilly in the evenings. Make sure you wear a warm sweater. Maybe a scarf and mittens, too.”), and reassuring James again (“I’m going to tell Harry that you’re here, Moony, so he’ll be expecting you at dinner. You don’t want to disappoint your godson, do you?”) Remus was left alone to prepare for dinner. It took him a little longer than he was expecting and so he ended up hurrying along the hallways to the dining hall, worried that James would end up sending a search party because he was ten minutes late.

As he entered the dining hall, a small form that looked like a miniature James Potter hurled itself against his chest, yelling “Moony!”, and hugging him tightly.

Remus returned Harry’s hug. “Harry! You’re so big!” he managed to choke out as his throat had become suspiciously tight.

Harry released him, grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the far end of one of the dining benches. Harry was talking a mile a minute, telling Remus about how much he’d missed him and how much news Harry had to tell him. Harry’s mother, Lily Potter, a short, overweight woman with dark red hair and remarkable green eyes, was standing waiting next to the seats where Harry was leading them. She greeted Remus with a hug and forced him to take a seat between herself and Harry.

Remus took in his surroundings. Across the table from him, with brown eyes looking at him fondly from behind his glasses, sat James; Sirius, his long black hair twisted up into a bun, wearing a trendy silk scarf and his usual gloves so that only the skin on his face was exposed, sat on James’ left. Sirius’ almond-shaped grey eyes were pointed directly at his plate but he was subtly glancing at Remus through his eyelashes.

“Hello, Sirius,” said Remus quietly, cutting through Harry’s continued prattle.

Sirius started a little and then looked up and made eye contact. “Hello, Remus,” he replied, just as quietly.

Remus gave a slight nod and then returned his attention to Harry, who was telling him all about the hockey games he had played this past winter, about the grove in the nearby forest he and Ron had stumbled on by mistake that had been infested with spiders, about the time he had fallen out of a second story window and broke his arm in seven places which was when his healing power had manifested. Throughout dinner, many of the other occupants of the hall came over to greet Remus and welcome him back. Harry continued telling tales from the last three years, Lily and James often jumping in and adding to or clarifying his stories. Remus let the feelings of home and family wash over him, but he still felt strangely detached from his surroundings.

He was drifting in and out of the conversation. “That new girl Hermione said that you pulled off someone’s arm, but then you  _ died. _ ” Harry, sounding completely awed, told him, getting his attention. There was a stunned silence for a couple beats.

“What was that?” asked Lily, sounding strained. Harry explained the story, making sure to mention that Remus had been killed four times. Remus fought the urge to repeatedly bang his head on the table. Lily and James were staring at Remus with their eyebrows up and Remus noticed that Sirius was gripping his fork so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.

“It’s not a big deal,” said Remus sheepishly. “I’m obviously alive  _ now _ . Hermione jumped back in time and erased those futures.”

Sirius was audibly gritting his teeth together and James was giving Remus a horrified look, but it was Lily who spoke. “Not a big deal? Not a big  _ deal? _ ” she demanded. “You died. We didn’t even know where you were and you died. We’ve been waiting, giving you your space like you asked us to, and you almost  _ didn’t come back. _ ” She was almost shaking with rage at the end of her sentence.

Harry was looking curiously back and forth between the four adults. “I thought it was a cool story,” he said sulkily.

Sirius slammed his fork down, stood up, and stormed out of the dining hall in a huff.

“I see he still has a penchant for dramatics,” commented Remus.

“Why’s everyone so mad? Moony’s still alive!” protested Harry. “Like an awesome zombie or something. Plus he pulled someone’s arm off.”

“I wasn’t going to tell you,” Remus said, “since evidently everything turned out fine.”

“Well we know now,” James told him with a flat look. “And because every time recently you’ve gone off on your own you’ve gotten a) captured, or b) almost killed, or c)  _ actually _ killed, you’re never allowed to leave here by yourself ever again.”

“James,” said Remus rolling his eyes.

“This is not up for discussion, Remus!” snapped James, startling Remus. James was rarely angry at anyone and had never been angry at Remus. “If I have to restrain you in the basement, I will. You are  _ not _ leaving here alone anymore, I don’t care how much ‘space’ you need. No.” He was breathing quite heavily now and Remus had grown alarmed.

“Alright, James,” said Remus holding his hands up with his palms facing out in a placating manner. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Damn right you’re not,” said James giving a sharp nod of his head.

“James, language,” said Lily teasingly. “But he’s right that you’re not fucking going anywhere, Remus.”

“Of course I’m not. I wouldn’t want to have to fight both of you off when you attempted to restrain me,” Remus said dryly.

James gave a short laugh and the tension broke. Harry was still looking cautiously between the three of them. “So now can I tell the story about the snake I found last summer that I’m pretty sure was a mutant snake with mutant snake superpowers?” he asked.

**********

The following morning Remus had a forced and mandatory appointment with the school physician for a full physical. He waited patiently as Dr. Pomfrey ran a whole host of tests and scans on him. She had been his doctor since he’d come to Hogwarts and her knowledge about his condition was unsurpassed, except perhaps by those MRDC scientists who had studied him against his will.

After looking through the results of her examination, she sat down heavily in her chair across her desk from him and looked at him shrewdly. He trusted her completely not to sugar coat the news.

“You’re dying,” she announced without preamble.

“I suspected as much,” he answered, feeling nothing but apathy.

“The serum that you were injected with was an unknown prototype,” she continued on. “Obviously you’re aware of the immediate side effects but there seem to be long term problems as well.” She showed him one of his brain scans. “The stress that your so-called wolf has placed on your brain is increasing. It’s my belief that during one of your episodes you will suffer a fatal seizure.”

He nodded. He had noticed that his episodes had been steadily worsening over the five years and lately his health had begun to suffer. His gauntness was not only caused by his poverty. “Can anything be done?”

“If you stop experiencing your wolf episodes then the problem won’t progress. But we both know that's not possible.”

“How long do I have?” he asked.

“It’s impossible to say,” she answered, looking thoughtful. “But I would guess that you have at least a year, but not more than three.”

“Will it affect my work for the Order?”

“It shouldn’t. You need to eat and sleep more.”

“I’ll try. Please don’t share this information with anybody.”

She looked affronted. “There’s such a thing as doctor-patient confidentiality!”

“I know. I’m sorry. I just assumed that you would have to tell Dumbledore.”

“Well it’s not like I can prevent him from reading it out of my mind if he wanted to,” she said. “But I won’t tell anyone. You should probably tell your friends, though.”

“I’ll take that under advisement,” he said, despite knowing that there was  _ no way _ he would ever tell his friends this, especially after what had happened at dinner the previous evening. He thanked her and left her office. He headed towards Lily’s science classroom as she did not have teaching duties until after lunch and had asked him to visit her after his medical appointment.

Lily smiled at him when he entered and then got up to make a pot of tea. He sat across the desk from her, taking his teacup and a cookie when they were offered.

“So,” she said, looking at him levelly over her own tea cup, “are you avoiding Sirius?”

Remus had spent the evening with the Potters in their suite and although the conversation had never stalled, they had not discussed anything of import, such as Remus’ departure three years previously and the reasons for it, or Remus’ recent capture of Peter and of giving him into MRDC custody, or Harry’s ability and the dangers he now faced. He had suspected that Lily had just been waiting to get him alone before grilling him.

“No,” he answered. “I’ve been here less than a day. I sat with all of you at dinner before he left. Then last evening I spent with you and this morning I had an appointment with Pomfrey. How could I possibly have had the time to avoid him?”

“I don’t know. It seems like you’re avoiding him.” She continued studying him intently. “Are you still angry with us?”

“No.”

She looked disbelieving. “I would be angry.”

“You have a fiery temper, but it is incredibly tiring to sustain anger. I don’t have the energy for it. Besides,” he said, “I was never angry.” Lily scoffed and Remus kept talking through the beginning of her argument. “No, really, I wasn’t. I was more hurt than anything else.”

“Oh,” said Lily in a small voice, looking ashamed. “Are you still hurt then?”

Remus shrugged. “A little, I guess. I’ve mostly gotten over it. It was difficult when everyone I loved believed me to be capable of kidnapping and betrayal. I thought you knew me better than that, but I know the fact that I’m an outsider made me the obvious suspect. I forgave all of you when you saved my life.”

“But then you left us anyway,” she protested.

“I needed some space. Away from everyone and away from Sirius especially. Since he’s confined here, obviously I had to be the one to go. And the fact that I’m not a mutant meant that I shouldn’t have gotten comfortable here in the first place.”

“That’s the second time you’ve implied that you don’t belong here. You don’t actually believe that, do you?” she huffed. Remus simply shrugged again, avoiding eye contact. “You’d better not let James hear you talking like that or he’ll be losing his temper at you all over again.”

“That was fairly terrifying,” conceded Remus. “I’ve never seen him truly angry at someone he cares about before.”

“Well he’s been worried for years. What with Sirius being miserable and you being off in the world alone having who knows what kind of awful things happening to you.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“As James pointed out last night you are  _ terrible _ at taking care of yourself. For all we knew you were in someone’s mutant prison or acting like the super-soldier that the MRDC wanted in the first place.”

“Anyway,” said Remus, not wanting to get into this argument again, “I’m fine. And I’m not avoiding Sirius. I’ve decided life’s too short to hold a grudge against the people I love. I’ll go see him this afternoon. I assume he’s still working down in the garage?”

Lily hummed her assent and took a sip of her tea. “Alright. I’ll accept that for now.” She gave him a wicked grin. “Now, do you want to hear all the romantic gossip that you missed?”

“Ooooo, yes please,” said Remus, settling down for a nice long chat.

**********

After lunch, Remus wandered out to the large building on the far side of the Hogwarts property that was commonly referred to as “the garage”. In reality, it was more of an airplane hangar and it was the domain of Sirius Black. 

One of Sirius’ powers was mechanical intuition. He was able to manipulate, repair, or create anything mechanical with little to no trouble, but was particularly interested in vehicles and kept the Order of the Phoenix supplied with cars and trucks and motorcycles and airplanes.

Remus entered the garage and looked around for Sirius. He found him sitting at a table looking at something through a magnifying glass. 

Remus silently studied him for a moment. He hadn’t changed much in three years. Remus thought he was looking a little thinner and sadder, with more lines around his eyes, but his expression was familiar and his cheekbones still looked like they could cut glass. Overall he looked exactly like the man that Remus had been in love with for more than half his life.

Remus walked towards him and when Sirius caught the movement, he looked up expectantly. Sirius’ face briefly slackened with shock and then he wiped his hands nervously on a nearby towel, put his ever-present gloves back on, and stood. All of Remus’ thoughts suddenly left his head and the two men stood silently gazing at each other.

Remus and Sirius had never discussed the fact that they were together; it had always just been taken for granted. Everyone had always known that they were romantically involved without them having to reveal this fact. Remus could barely remember a time after meeting Sirius that he hadn’t understood that he was half of a whole. Although James and Sirius had almost instantly become notorious best friends - they had so much in common, they’d either had to be best friends or bitter enemies - it was common knowledge that Sirius and Remus belonged to each other. Remus suspected that their relationship was due to a quirk of fate: Sirius could touch him.

Sirius’ mutant power was the involuntary ability to absorb the physical strength and superpowers of anyone he touched. When this person was a mutant Sirius felt extreme pain and so avoided touching anyone. He was incredibly dangerous to other mutants, as he could absorb a mutant’s power and use it for a short time, or he could drain the mutant’s life and keep their ability forever; he was scarcely less toxic to humans who could be killed by exposure to his unprotected skin. Remus’ powers, however, seemed to bestow a slight resistance to Sirius’ power.

They had discovered it by mistake. Sirius, at twelve year old, was not always as careful about covering up his exposed skin as he should have been. Generally he wore gloves, but he hated them and took them off any chance he could. James and Remus had been having a discussion when entering their dorm room; trying to decide between two different prank ideas to pull on the elder students when Remus had lost his balance and stumbled beside Sirius’ bed. Automatically, Sirius had reached out and caught his bare arm to steady him. There had been a feeling like a shock passing between them and then Sirius had let go as if he had been scalded. But he had not hurt Remus. And Sirius had not felt pain.

They had begun experimenting and discovered that Remus could withstand Sirius’ touch for almost two minutes before losing consciousness. It was not painful for him; it felt like electricity ran between them. Shortly after their discovery, Sirius had realized that he could subdue Remus when the wolf consciousness overtook him. That, Remus had since realized, was when the two of them became cemented for life. Remus was the only person that Sirius could touch; in return, Sirius was the only person who could protect Remus from his inner demons. Remus had thought that they understood each other perfectly and were meant to be together forever.

And then Sirius had believed him to be a traitor.

“I saw your brother.” Remus wasn’t exactly sure exactly what he had been planning on saying to open the conversation with Sirius after three years apart but it certainly hadn’t been that.

“I know. He called,” said Sirius hesitantly.

“He’s still a cocky shit.”

Sirius shrugged. “He was always a shit, but I think you know him better than I do now.” He was still eyeing Remus cautiously as if Remus were a frightened animal that might suddenly bolt away. Sirius was many things, but cautious was not one of them. Remus wondered how to jolt him out of this careful behaviour.

“I handed Peter over to MRDC custody.”

Sirius nodded. “I know,” he said, without indicating any feelings on the subject.

Remus was getting frustrated. “And do you have anything to say?”

“Anything to say?” echoed Sirius.

“Yes, Sirius! Do you have anything to say about me handing over someone who used to be our friend over to our enemies? Do you have any follow up questions? Is there anything -”

“Are you staying?” Sirius cut him off.

“What?” asked Remus, bewildered.

“It’s just,” started Sirius helplessly, with a blush rising on his cheeks, “you asked if I had any questions. And I do have a bunch of questions about Peter and what happened to bring you back and what you’ve been doing for the past three years. But all I really care about right now is finding out if you’re leaving me again.”

“No, Sirius,” said Remus gently. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’ve missed you so much. I’m so sorry.”

“I know. It will be okay.”

Sirius gave a half-sob, half-laugh and then rushed forward into Remus’ waiting arms.


	5. Chapter 5

That evening Remus asked to meet with James and Lily and Sirius in the Potters’ suite. He knew that, unlike himself, the three of them still held quite a bit of respect for Dumbledore but he felt that since Sirius and Harry were the two people under direct threat from Voldemort that the four of them should come up with their own plans independently of the Order of the Phoenix.

Remus knew that Voldemort had not always been evil. Born Tom Riddle, he had once been a young, idealistic mutant who had helped Dumbledore found Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. However, one too many negative encounters with anti-mutant bigots coupled with his memories of childhood abuse by his human father had led to him vehemently disagreeing with Dumbledore about the possibility of mutants and humans living in peace. He believe mutants to be superior and that humans should be reminded frequently and forcefully of this fact.

Riddle had broken from Dumbledore and founded his own team of mutants, the Death Eaters. He had taken up the name Voldemort and declared war against the MRDC and vowed to destroy the Order of the Phoenix if they got in his way.

Somehow his mission had changed along the way, from ensuring the freedom from oppression for all mutants to a quest for personal power. His power made him greedy: if he made eye contact with a mutant, he was able to mimic their power until he decided to mimic a different power. He had been using Dumbledore’s telepathy for years now, but what he really wanted was Sirius’ power.

When Sirius’ power had manifested shortly before his eleventh birthday, his parents had been thrilled. They were mutants that lived apart from humans and quietly supported Voldemort’s goals. They began to bring mutants to their house to test Sirius’ ability, despite the pain this caused him; they wanted to know how long he could keep the mutant powers he absorbed, how many powers he could hold at once, and whether he could only use them temporarily.

Voldemort had learned of Sirius’ abilities from Sirius’ cousin Bellatrix who had joined the Death Eaters. Intrigued, he had travelled to visit the Blacks. He had watched as Sirius was forced to completely drain the life from a mutant with mechanical intuition and he decided that he would mimic Sirius’ ability and then completely absorb Sirius’ power. 

Before Voldemort was able to achieve this, Sirius’ other cousin, Andromeda, an empath who could sense a person’s motivations and feelings through contact with their clothing, had discerned his plan and had taken Sirius and fled with him and her human boyfriend, Ted Tonks, to Hogsmeade and Dumbledore’s protection.

Voldemort had been enraged and through the years he had not stopped trying to capture Sirius. He was always on the lookout for other mutants with similar powers. The Order of the Phoenix’s spies had also learned that he was looking for mutants who were invulnerable or immortal to help him in his quest to get to Sirius.

Hogwarts provided safety. Remus knew that Voldemort couldn’t easily access Sirius or Harry while they were at the school, but that it had essentially become a prison for Sirius. If he wanted Harry to have a normal life, if he wanted Sirius and Harry to remain safe even after his death, Voldemort would have to be stopped.

Remus sat on the couch in the Potters’ suite with Sirius curled up against his side wearing one of his sweaters. Remus had discovered that the missing clothing from his closet had been taken by Sirius; he wore Remus’ sweaters as comfort when he was upset. Remus sipped his tea, deliberating how he would broach the sensitive topic. He could tell that the three of them suspected that he wanted to talk about Peter or the events of three years ago and, despite the fact that he had told both Lily and Sirius that he wasn’t mad and that they could start moving on, that they were prepared for anger and accusations. The longer he stayed thoughtfully quiet the more anxious looks he received as James and Lily chatted about inconsequential things. Sirius was still being uncharacteristically subdued and Remus knew it would take a little time before Sirius believed that Remus wasn’t going to disappear the minute Sirius did something that aggravated him.

James was never one to let things lie. “Alright, Remus. Why did you want to meet with us?” he suddenly blurted, cutting himself off in the middle of a story about his students.

Remus debated how to best answer the question and decided that blunt honesty would probably work best. “I’ve been trying to decide what we should do about this increased threat from Voldemort and the Death Eaters.”

“Okay,” said Lily cautiously, “there’s an order meeting tomorrow.”

“No, I mean what  _ we _ should do.” He waved his hand around indicating the four of them.

The three of them exchanged a look which he could not interpret. “What do you mean?” ventured James.

“I think we should kill Voldemort.” 

The shocked silence that followed his statement would have been amusing if the subject were not so grim. The three of them gaped at him and then all began talking at the same time, saying the exact things that he had expected.

James was outraged. “We are not killers, Moony! You want us to execute someone in cold blood?”

Lily was pragmatic. “Dumbledore will never allow it. Besides, we don’t even know where he is. He has his own fortress in the middle of nowhere.”

Sirius was enthusiastic. “Awesome! Can we take out my bitch of a cousin, too?”

Remus held up his hand to silence them. He addressed James first. “The threat he poses to the lives of your son and your best friend is not insignificant. I, for one, am perfectly happy to become a killer to keep them safe.”

James bowed his head in acknowledgement. “Planned murder seems like we’re going a little far, though, doesn’t it? Couldn’t we just capture him?”

“Sirius and Harry will only be truly safe from him if he’s dead. Where would we keep him? The only mutant holding facilities belong to the MRDC. Do you want to risk handing him over to them? We can’t trust them.”

“You sent Peter there!” protested James.

Remus looked him in the eyes. “Yes, I did. I couldn’t in good conscious let him go; by that time his spying and meddling had caused pain and trauma to several mutants, not to mention he had orchestrated at least five attempts on my life, four of them successful. I also couldn’t bring him here where he could cause untold amounts of damage. And I couldn’t bring myself to kill him. So I took the only option that I saw.”

James still looked like he wanted to argue. “I don’t agree with this, but if everyone else is in agreement that it’s the best plan then I will go along with it. As Lily says it’s practically impossible, anyway.”

Remus gave a thin smile. “I haven’t yet come up with a way around the problems you mentioned, Lily.”

“You must have thought about a starting point for your plan?” asked Lily, knowingly.

“Obviously we can't tell the Order of the Phoenix about our ultimate goal; as you said, Dumbledore would put a stop to it. We'll have to keep it to ourselves and to a few select others that we trust. But we could use the Order's help for the first part of my plan. I’d like you to suggest at the meeting tomorrow that we begin to hunt down, capture and attempt to rehabilitate Death Eaters. We should start with Voldemort’s top lieutenants. We’ll never get close to him if they’re free.”

“Malfoy and Bellatrix?” asked Lily, as Sirius pumped his fist in triumph.

“Yes, and Greyback,” said Remus. “I think those are our three most dangerous opponents.”

James’ mind was obviously whirring with the possibilities for the missions, as Remus knew it would once James had been given a problem to solve. “We’re probably going to have to hand them over to the MRDC, as much as we hate them,” he said. “Do you think we’ll need to work with them?”

Lily shivered. “I hope not, they’re terrible.”

Sirius just waved a hand dismissively. “We can just get Kingsley to teleport our hostages to them as a surprise.”

“I’m not sure Kingsley would want to put himself inside an MRDC facility. I technically work for them; I can deal with the transfers,” supplied Remus.

The four of them continued making plans late into the night, everything from how to protect themselves from Malfoy’s power to how to present their ideas to the Order of the Phoenix. It felt familiar to Remus, bringing to mind many nights spent pouring over prank ideas in their school days. It felt safe and warm and comforting. It felt like home.

**********

The following day Remus decided that he should go to Hogsmeade to pick up some necessities and to call on some of the friends he had left behind. First he had to rid himself of his entourage. He had expected Sirius to be clingy but Sirius was also still trying to appease him so he had agreed without an argument that Remus could go alone. It was also easy to make Lily see reason and he had promised to spend the entirety of Sunday with Harry, but he was having slight difficulties preventing James from following him around. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his friends or want their company, but he had spent the last three years alone and he was having a little trouble adjusting to all the unwavering affection, which made him feel like an ungrateful asshole. Today he was just finding everything overwhelming and he knew that if he mentioned needing space it would cause them to panic that he would disappear again.

Eventually he had convinced James that he wasn’t going to disappear or get attacked and he’d even promised that he’d go visit their parents. He was pretty sure that James was still planning on following him around invisibly but at least he could pretend he was alone.

The day went by slowly. He picked up all the supplies he needed and ran into many acquaintances. Everyone he spoke to seemed genuinely happy to see him and claimed that they’d been worried about him and had missed him. It made him feel terrible that he wasn’t happier. He was able to smile and fake his way through conversations but inside he still felt a little numb.

It was worst when he went to visit Euphemia and Fleamont. They, like James, had wrapped him in warmth and love. They plied him with food and spoke about how glad they were to see him. He loved them, he did, but right at that very moment all he wanted was to be alone.

When he returned to the school it was later than he had expected to be and was in danger of missing the beginning of the Order of the Phoenix meeting. He managed to reach the meeting room just as everyone was settling down and he noticed that a seat had been left for him on Sirius’ right hand side; the place he had always sat.

The order members who did not work at Hogwarts took the opportunity to greet Remus and welcome him back. Dumbledore clapped his hands together. “Yes, welcome back, Remus,” he said. “I think in light of you returning to us we should first discuss Peter Pettigrew’s capture by the MRDC.”

At his words there was a slight disturbance around the table, as many of them shifted uncomfortably or grumbled angrily. There was a definite air of rancour around the table that reminded Remus of when that hostility had been aimed at him.

Three and a half years previously their rescue missions had started going wrong. They ran a continent-wide toll-free helpline that young mutants could call if they were in danger or had become homeless. Dumbledore also had an extensive network of contacts that stretched out through almost every major city who were in the business of finding and helping young mutants. Although the prevalence of the superpower-causing mutation in the so-called S gene was very low in the general population, anti-mutant bigotry was common and extreme.

The Order of the Phoenix had been planning and executing successful rescue missions for many years but suddenly the Death Eaters had seemed to always be one step ahead of them. Voldemort had obviously stepped up his recruitment of young mutants. It wasn’t until a mutant had been abducted from Hogwarts itself that it became clear that the Order of the Phoenix had a spy. Someone was obviously working for Voldemort to help him swell his ranks.

Remus had been the suspect. In retrospect he realized that Peter must have subtly framed him, but at the time he believed that it was simply his non-mutant status that caused suspicion to fall on him. It was also easy for everyone to believe that he sympathized with the Death Eaters following his detainment by the MRDC. He had been moody and secretive, not wanting anyone to know about the lingering negative effects that his captivity had had on him.

Remus had been angry but not worried about the accusations until one night he overheard Sirius, with help from Peter, trying to convince James and Lily that Remus was obviously the traitor. He had been devastated by Sirius’ belief in his dishonesty and his heart had completely broken by the time that James was quietly agreeing that it seemed like the most likely explanation. He had known that things had been strained between him and his friends recently but he was shocked that they apparently knew so little about his character. 

Back in his room, he had found a letter on his desk, in what looked like his handwriting, arranging a meeting to transfer an abducted student to the Death Eaters in two days’ time. Remus realized that he was being framed and felt that showing anyone this letter would not help him prove his innocence. He decided that he should go to the meeting spot; it definitely felt like a trap, but it also seemed like the only way he would be able to unmask the spy.

The following day he had noticed that his friends were all avoiding him and Dumbledore had asked to speak with him. Gently, Dumbledore had suggested that Remus leave the school for a while until all the misunderstandings could be cleared up. Remus had been incensed. How could a telepath not know who was the spy? Obviously Dumbledore was not actually as omniscient as he had led everyone to believe; many things could be hidden from him.

Remus had taken a truck and left Hogwarts in defeat. 

The next day he had reached the meeting spot from the letter and it was, indeed, a trap. Peter had been there, to crow about his triumph, as well as Malfoy and several other Death Eaters.

“There’s a good wolf,” Malfoy had cooed. “Stop where you are.” Remus had attempted to disobey, but he was already caught by Malfoy’s power. “We're going to play with you a little before you die. You’re going to knock yourself unconscious so that we can kill you. Strangle yourself.”

It had been terrible. He kept willing his hands to stop what they were doing. Stop crushing his windpipe and stop slowly suffocating him. All around him the Death Eaters were laughing and periodically sending attacks his way. Toying with him. His vision began to swim with dark spots and he knew that as soon as he lost consciousness all was lost. 

Malfoy had suddenly been hit with a concussive force that knocked him off his feet. The Order of the Phoenix had arrived. Lily had thrown herself between Remus and his attackers, erecting a force field to protect him. The connection to Malfoy had been severed when he had lost eye contact and Remus felt his fingers loosen but it was already too late. He slid into unconsciousness.

He had woken up in the Hogwarts hospital with Sirius beside him. Sirius had been extremely sheepish and apologetic and had explained that James had been extremely upset when Remus had suddenly disappeared and had stormed around trying to find answers. Eventually he had taken one of Remus’ sweaters to Andromeda Tonks who was able to sense Remus’ innocence and his plan and the Order had been dispatched to the meeting site. After Remus had lost consciousness the Order had gained the upper hand in the fight and the Death Eaters had retreated, Peter with them as his role as spy had been exposed. 

“You should have told us about the meeting!” admonished Sirius.

“And you would have believed me?” asked Remus, sarcastically. “I heard you telling James that you were sure I was the traitor.”

“What was I supposed to think? You haven’t done anything to defend yourself against these accusations!”

“I shouldn’t have had to prove my trustworthiness to you! After everything we’ve been through, I can’t believe you thought I could betray you.”

Sirius looked incredibly guilty. “You’ve been so angry lately. And you never confide in me anymore. Ever since you came back from the MRDC you’ve been distant.”

“Well  _ pardon me _ for having a negative reaction to being held and experimented on against my will,” said Remus, acidly.

Sirius looked defeated. “I’m really sorry, Remus. I do trust you. I’ll make this right.”

“I’m not sure you can, Sirius.”

“What are you saying?” asked Sirius, fearfully. 

“I need time and space away from everybody. I need distance from here.”

“You’re leaving?” 

Remus had simply nodded, wishing that the Order had been too late to save him so that he could have been spared this pain. “Leave me alone, Sirius,” he requested.

He left Hogwarts the following day. He wanted to get as far away as he could and forget completely about the Order of the Phoenix.

Remus felt lost in these memories, remembering how all these people at the meeting had believed the worst about him. He started to retreat into himself until he felt Sirius’ gloved hand thread their fingers together and give him a slight squeeze. That brought him back to the present and he was able to think more clearly. Not all of these people had believed the worst about him. And the ones who had had still rushed to his rescue.

The discussion had moved on, Remus realized. Lily had brought up that they should start capturing Death Eaters. There was a debate going on about how ethical it was for them to give their enemies to a known anti-mutant organization.

As the argument continued, Remus noticed that Dumbledore was watching him thoughtfully. He met the older man’s gaze defiantly and wondered what was going on in his mind. Had he discovered that their ultimate objective was to kill his old friend? Was he angry about Remus’ recent disrespect? Did he know about Remus’ precarious health situation? Was he hatching a plan that would cause Remus’ loved ones pain?

Remus knew one thing for certain and that was that he was finished being a pawn; for the first time in his life he was taking control.


	6. Chapter 6

James was put in charge of brainstorming and plan making for the capture of Lucius Malfoy. He tried to include everyone. He relied heavily on Sirius and Remus, but he also consulted other Order members and even his students. James taught a class that was commonly called either powers class or mutant class. He was in charge of teaching the young mutants how to properly harness their powers. Usually this involved them using their powers to escape from some ridiculous trap that James had conceived. He also frequently split them into teams and gave them instructions to prank the other team using the powers of every single one of their team members. Class assignments usually involved listing a bunch of mutant powers and a scenario and the students having to come up with a workable plan. James had also begun coordinating his lessons to Remus’ when Remus began teaching situational awareness and problem solving.

Remus’ defence classes had been going well. He taught basic offensive and defensive moves then played some jazzy music and let the class practice in pairs. It was much more laid back than when he had previously taught at the school; he had taught history and politics when he was here before, but those classes were now taught by Alastor Moody.

Tonks and Dorcas, an Order member who could create elaborate illusions, had been tasked with stalking Malfoy. Unlike most mutants, Malfoy lived among humans, using his powers to gain advantage in the business world, where no one knew he was a mutant, in order to make himself a very rich man.

“He’s never alone except when he’s at home,” Tonks reported to James, Sirius and Remus one late April evening. “Usually he has at least Crabbe and Goyle around but there’s often several other mutant bodyguards. I’m not sure if he’s worried about the MRDC or business rivals or just random attacks by bigoted humans, if they were ever to find out he’s a mutant.”

“We shouldn’t be worrying about fighting off other mutants when we capture him,” mused James. “We know how slippery he is; if our attention is divided it gives him a chance to escape. We should focus our surveillance on his manor.”

“Malfoy Manor. They say it’s impregnable,” said Remus dryly.

James grinned at him happily. “You just gave me the perfect opening to use a Game of Thrones quote!”

Sirius shook his head in dismay. “I can’t believe you ruined it.”

“Wait, wait,” protested James. “I got distracted. Say it again and I’ll get it right.”

“No,” said Remus simply. “You lost your chance.”

“Nooooo,” James moaned unhappily. “Fine. I’ll say it anyway. Give me ten good mutants and I’ll impregnate the bitch.”

“Ten you think?” asked Sirius curiously.

James considered. “Probably more. I think maybe three teams? It depends on the security systems in place. We’re going to have to do some heavy surveillance first. I’ll probably have to head there myself. Maybe get Alastor to take a look as well.”

“That’s a good idea,” agreed Tonks. “Dorcas and I could only get glimpses of the surrounding grounds without raising suspicion. Did you know that the pretentious fucker has a herd of peacocks?”

“Do you think you could shapeshift into a peacock?” asked James hopefully.

“Nope,” said Tonks, popping the p sound. “Humanoid shapes only.”

“Too bad he doesn’t have a herd of Bigfoots,” said Remus. “Bigfeet?” 

Tonks rolled her eyes but changed her shape into something resembling Bigfoot and flashed jazz hands at him.

“Padfoot,” said James, ignoring them and addressing Sirius, “can you make me a mechanical peacock for spying purposes? And maybe it could have some offensive capabilities as well?”

Sirius thought about it. “Probably. I shouldn’t have any trouble with the interior, but I’d need someone’s help to make the outside look like an actual peacock. And what kind of offensive weapons do you want the mechanical peacock to have?”

“I was thinking the ability to stun people, maybe with a sedative?”

“I should be able to manage that,” said Sirius.

“Excellent,” approved James. “You start work on that and I’ll draw up a surveillance plan. Moony, you find someone artistic or who knows animal physiology to help Sirius and ask Lily or Dr. Pomfrey about sedatives. Are there any other pressing issues anyone wants to bring up?”

“We should also consider Narcissa,” Remus said. “I don’t know about you but I personally don’t want to worry about being hit by lightning or a tornado or some kind of evil weather when attempting to apprehend her husband.”

“I wouldn’t worry about her too much,” put in Tonks. “She’s been teaching at the school that the Death Eaters run for their children, since they can’t be sent to Hogwarts.”

“Okay, good work, team!” enthused James. “Time for a group hug!” Sirius and Tonks joined him immediately and Remus let himself be pulled into the hug while sighing deeply and rolling his eyes.

**********

Ten days later, Remus was outdoors watching Sirius teach the older students their powers class, as James was away on surveillance duty. He noticed that Fleur, the new french teacher, had also wandered out into the nice weather and he went over to speak to her since they’d never had a one-on-one conversation. He knew that she was still relatively new to Hogwarts; she had only come there from Québec City after Easter.

“I hope you’re settling in well and that people have made you feel welcome,” he told her.

“It is good that we are in Canada, yes? It is true what everyone says, nous sommes très polis.”

“Goddamn it, Wood!” Sirius’ shout echoed across the lawn. “If you can’t hit your  _ fucking target _ I’m going suck out your powers and show you how to do it myself!”

Remus’ lips twitched. “Did you know that Sirius is originally from Vancouver?”

Fleur gave a distinctly unladylike snort. “He seems like a supportive and understanding teacher. Il est comme …” she grasped for the name of a famous teacher.

“Mr. Feeny?” suggested Remus. Fleur just gave him a blank stare. 

Remus shook his head and laughed, “Sirius has his moments.”

“Oh, yes, il peut être vraiment charmant.” Fleur smiled. “It is good you are returned, he was much less pleasant to be near when I was first arrived.” 

They chatted for a little longer before they parted ways and Remus considered what Fleur had said. He had always known that his presence was helpful in dulling some of Sirius’ sharper edges; Sirius’ difficult childhood, the fact that he was touch-starved, and his long-term forced captivity (even though he had a large and beautiful prison filled with people he loved it was still a prison) had left him angry and disagreeable a lot of the time. Remus was able to understand and sympathize with his sometimes uncontrollable anger and bitterness better than most, and he was also able to provide casual touches that others couldn’t.

Over the past couple of weeks since he had returned to Hogwarts, Remus felt like he was waking up from a fog of apathy. The fatal prognosis that he had received from Pomfrey had initially induced no reaction from him, but it was beginning to weigh heavily on his mind. After seeing their reactions to his absence, he was growing quite worried about what impact his eventual death would have on his friends. Obviously it would be a negative impact but he was beginning feel anxious that Sirius would be irreparably harmed, especially if he was not given prior warning. He also knew that because Sirius was currently treating him with caution that now would probably be the ideal time to tell him what Pomfrey had said.

“We need to talk,” Remus said to Sirius after his class was finished and Sirius was cleaning up the practice field. Sirius looked up at him with a look of blank terror across his face. Remus realized how ominous his words had sounded. “Oh, no, it’s nothing bad,” he tried to reassure him, but then realized that, yes, actually, it was something bad. “Well, maybe it is. But I’m not leaving you!” he tried, before he realized that, yes, actually, he would eventually be leaving him. “… voluntarily,” he finished weakly.

Sirius’ expression was a cross between confusion and fear. “You’re involuntarily leaving?” he asked.

Remus groaned in frustration. “I’ve said this very badly. I just want us to have a discussion alone this evening, alright? And I don’t want you to spend all day worrying. We’re fine. Okay?”

Sirius nodded hesitantly, still looking at him with trepidation.

When Sirius came to Remus’ room that evening he still looked vaguely apprehensive. Remus settled in his armchair, leaving the desk chair for Sirius. He assumed that the conversation would cause some pacing.

“So,” said Sirius, “are you going to tell me about you involuntarily leaving?”

“That’s not quite accurate,” argued Remus. “It’s just … Pomfrey.”

“Pomfrey?” Sirius echoed. “Pomfrey’s sending you away? I’ll fight her.”

“No, Sirius. It’s … remember when I came back? And I had that medical appointment with her? I didn’t really want to have it, or anything, but you know they’re mandatory for all Order members. Anyway, she did a bunch of tests; I’m sure you know, you’ve obviously also had them -”

“Spit it out, Remus.”

“She says I only have between one to three years left to live.”

There was a sudden, ringing silence and Remus watched as a multitude of emotions raced across Sirius’ face. Then he was up and pacing. Remus explained what Pomfrey had told him as Sirius paced frantically.

“What is she doing to stop this?” Sirius demanded.

“Nothing,” answered Remus and then upon seeing Sirius’ angry glare he clarified. “What can she do, Padfoot? She’s a doctor, not a researcher. The only people who would be capable of solving this problem, if there even is a solution, would be the MRDC. And I don’t trust them as far as Harry could throw them. They’d probably end up making it worse or forcing me to work with them even more than I do now. Considering what happened to most of the recipients of the wolf serum this seems like a better way to go.”

“You can’t just give up!”

“I don’t want to give up, Sirius, but I also don’t want to spend the rest of the time I have left chasing unsuccessful cures or being experimented on. I want to help make the world a safer place for you and Harry and I want to enjoy the time I have left with the people I love.”

Sirius’ face softened as he came over and settled on Remus’ lap, circling his arms around his neck.

“The last time you left me, I didn’t put up a fight because I wanted to respect your wishes,” he said, slowly. “But it was awful and I was miserable and I’m not losing you again. This time I’m going to fight for you with everything I have. I’m going to save you, Moony. Whatever it takes.” 


	7. Chapter 7

It was late May by the time the Order had finalized a workable plan for capturing Malfoy. 

Remus was waiting with his team on the edge of the Malfoy property for their go-ahead signal. He felt exhilarated; it had been a long time since he’d participated in an Order mission and this one reminded him of the elaborate pranks that James had planned in their school days.

There were three teams of mutants tonight: the distraction team, the fighting team, and the infiltration team. During surveillance, they had found that it would be practically impossible to stealthily disarm all of Malfoy’s security. He would be easily alerted to their presence and would call in backup. Malfoy himself would retreat into his fortified bunker. 

The plan was for the distraction team to make a lot of noise dismantling his security and surrounding the house, while the fighting team battled the backup, and the infiltration team abducted him from his safe-room. It was more difficult than it sounded. His bunker was only accessible using a biometric scanner, was made out of poured concrete and steel girders, was underground, and was surrounded by an electric barrier that only turned off for the moment when Malfoy entered or exited the room.

The electricity in the fence surrounding the Malfoy property suddenly hummed off and Remus heard Gideon, whose mutant power was the manipulation of energy, say into the comm unit that he had overloaded the fence and that they could proceed. Remus pried apart the bars of the fence so his team could enter the property. They quickly made their way to the south side of the house, bypassing all of the sleeping peacocks. The peacocks, apparently, had been trained to attack intruders, so Sirius’ mechanical peacock had been made to sedate all the other peacocks that afternoon.

Alastor Moody, who had x-ray vision, was watching the ground and directing their small group. They heard small explosions from all sides of the house. Moody indicated that they were in position so Minerva McGonagall took her place in the middle of their mark and Remus, Marlene McKinnon, and Kingsley crowded close to her and made sure to hold on to her.

“Hold on,” said Moody. “I can see him coming now.” His gaze was still on the ground. “Okay, he’s at the panel to open the door. You can go in 3…2…1… now!”

McGonagall activated her power, the ability to phase through solid matter, and the four of them dropped into the bunker just as the electrical barrier lowered.

Malfoy looked shocked when the four of them dropped into his bunker. He began to speak but Marlene, who had the ability to manipulate sound waves, directed his words back towards him. Remus stalked forward quickly and jabbed Malfoy in the throat to prevent him from speaking again and then grabbed him in a sleeper hold and rendered him unconscious. 

“That was … easier than I expected,” said Marlene.

“That’s the beauty of a James Potter plan,” Remus replied.

“I would have expected more explosions from a  _ true _ James Potter plan,” said McGonagall dryly. The room was rocked just then by a large explosion outside. 

“Time to go,” said Kingsley.

Remus gagged Malfoy, tied him up, and propped up his body to let the biometric scanner scan him in order to open the door.

Once they left the bunker, Kingsley grabbed Remus and Malfoy and teleported them away, while McGonagall and Marlene passed on the message that they had succeeded and went to help the fighting team and begin their retreat.

Kingsley could only teleport to places that he had either been before or seen an accurate picture of and he dropped Remus and Malfoy off in a park near the MRDC headquarters before returning to help with extraction of the other teams back to Hogwarts.

Remus slung Malfoy over his shoulder and walked him to the MRDC building, where he met Regulus and a team of agents in the lobby. He gave Malfoy over to them.

“So you  _ did _ catch him and I  _ am _ going to take all the credit,” Regulus smirked at him.

“He’s dangerous,” said Remus. “Don’t let him talk to anyone; they’ll let him out.”

“I’m not stupid, Lupin; I’ve known him a lot longer than you have. He’s in a soundproofed cell and he’ll be sedated if anyone else is in the room with him.”

“Alright, see you around Black.” Remus turned to leave but Regulus threw out his arm to stop him.

“Wait, I’ve got a present for you from Snape,” he said.

“The only present I want from Snape is his death certificate,” replied Remus.

Regulus laughed. “I didn’t think you’d be one for holding a grudge, but I approve of Snape as the one to change your mind.”

“I’m also carrying quite a lot of resentment for Dolores Umbridge.”

“Yes, she really is evil incarnate, isn’t she? Such wonderful coworkers I have.”

“That could probably be rectified by not working for bigots.”

“I think we went over this last time we spoke, didn’t we? Anyway, if it makes you feel better it’s not really a present from Snape. In fact, he would be quite angry that I gave it to you without his knowledge.” Regulus handed Remus a metal briefcase that he opened to find twenty-four syringes filled with a strange yellow liquid.

“What’s this?”

“Something Snape invented: it’s a power suppression serum.” Remus looked up at him, shocked. “It’s still a prototype, mind,” continued Regulus. “Each dose works for about five minutes. But the mutant is completely without their abilities for those five minutes.” 

Remus, who had been thinking of incapacitating Voldemort or allowing Sirius freedom from his power, scoffed. “What good is five minutes?”

“I’m sure you and the rest of your do-gooder friends will come up with something. I don’t care. I took it to annoy Snape and I thought you might find a use for it, especially since you’ve suddenly started doing what the MRDC asked of you by capturing hostile mutants.” Regulus waved dismissively. “Tell Sirius I said hello. Or, rather, come up with something vaguely insulting and tell him I said that. I wouldn’t want him to think our relationship is growing friendly.”

“God forbid,” Remus said dryly, and left to go to his rendezvous point to wait for Kingsley to pick him up.

**********

Remus was the final Order member to return to Hogwarts and he found an anxious Sirius waiting for him at the post-mission meeting. James, who had not been an active mission participant, was eager to have a post mortem discussion about every single facet of the mission but he was convinced to adjourn the meeting after forty-five minutes.

Remus woke suddenly a couple of hours later, with sharp pain radiating across his skull. He recognized the migraine as a precursor to a wolf episode. He struggled to get out of bed; he had to get down to the reinforced room in the basement. The movement spiked his nausea and he vomited into the bin by his bed. He grabbed the phone on the night table and was able to dial Sirius’ extension.

Sirius answered after seven rings. “Mmmmmm’lo?”

“Sirius … wolf …” Remus managed to groan into the phone.

“Moony?” Sirius was more alert now. “I’m on my way, okay? Just hold tight.”

Remus grasped for one of painkillers he kept in his night table and popped it in his mouth, waiting for the small relief it would bring. He wasn’t aware of much time passing, but Sirius was suddenly there. Sirius helped him up and supported his weight as they made their way down to the holding room. Dr. Pomfrey met them there, obviously having been contacted by Sirius, and gave Remus stronger painkillers and anti-nausea medication. He was then restrained on a hospital bed and he felt Sirius running his velvet gloved fingers through his hair and massaging his aching head.

Remus could feel his awareness slipping, could feel something taking over his senses. Sirius removed his gloves and cupped Remus’ face in his bare hands. Remus felt the familiar electric shock that he always received when Sirius touched him.

He kissed Remus’ forehead. “Alright, Moony, love, I’m going to send you to sleep until it’s over, okay?” was the last thing was Remus heard before he slipped into oblivion.

**********

When Remus awoke he was back in his own room and it was early morning. Sirius was snoozing next to his bed in the desk chair and holding his hand. Remus shifted slightly and Sirius jerked awake.

Sirius smiled softly at him. “Hey there, sleepy,” he said, and got up to help Remus sit up and drink some water and eat some soup. He then climbed behind Remus on the bed so Remus could sit propped up on his chest and began stroking Remus’ hair. He was still wearing his velvet gloves, Remus realized. He liked the soft feeling of those gloves on his skin.

Remus relaxed back into Sirius. “How long was I out?” he asked.

“Two days,” Sirius replied. “You missed the Prewitts’ Victoria Day fireworks.”

“Have you slept? Are you tired? You don’t have to stay.”

“I’m happy where I am.”

Sirius continued stroking his head, his neck, down his arms, across his belly. He was humming a song that Remus only ever heard when he woke up after wolf episodes. He let himself fully loosen all his muscles. He was sleepy after these events and he was stiff and achy and his brain always felt hopelessly muddled. He let Sirius continue to care for him, let him wrap him up in feelings of love and safety and belonging. He knew he had been depriving himself of this by running away and wanted to soak in as much of the affection as he could.

“What else has been happening?” Remus eventually asked, trying to get his mind to focus. It was almost like being mildly drunk.

“Not much. James has been debriefing all the Order members about the Malfoy capture mission. He’ll be after you as soon as you are up and about.”

Remus smiled groggily. “I got to punch him in the throat. That was fun.”

Sirius chuckled. “I bet it was.”

“I also punched Peter in the face.”

Sirius kissed his shoulder. “Yes, you’ve been punching out all your feelings recently.”

“I have a whole list of people I want to punch. Dumbledore, Snape, Voldemort, that one guy who drove really slowly in front of me that one time, Dolores Umbridge, people who pronounce it ‘ex-pecially’ ...”

“I love it when you start making weirdly aggressive plans when you’re dopey like this.”

“I don’t,” Remus protested. “You must be mistaking me for someone else.”

Sirius laughed. “Sure, it’s probably one of my many other wolf-serum boyfriends that I’m thinking about. I have heard many plans over the years that involve setting fire to Aberforth’s goats.”

“Those goats are  _ satanic _ . How else should we protect ourselves from their unholy influence?”

“They’re goats, Moony. I promise you that they are nothing but ordinary goats.”

“They mocked me when I was a child.”

“Well, by all means, let's annihilate them, then. Shouldn’t the plan be to punch them? Fire isn’t really your forte.”

“They’ll be expecting punches. They’re crafty. Plus fire would get us delicious goat barbecue.”

“You, my love, are being ridiculous,” said Sirius fondly. “Do you want more food or sleep or something else, Moony-of-mine?”

Remus smiled sleepily. “Yes,” he said. He could feel himself drifting back towards unconsciousness.

“Yes what?”

“Yours.”

**********

When Remus woke again, it was almost dinner time and he felt recovered. He quickly dressed and made his way to the dining hall, taking his seat with Sirius, James, and Lily.

“Moony, good to see you!” enthused James. “Are you feeling better?”

Remus nodded in affirmation while beginning to pile food on his plate; he was ravenously hungry.

“I’ve examined that power-suppressing serum that Regulus sent us,” said Lily, who had done graduate work in biochemistry, “and it’s legitimate. I’m also pretty sure that I can replicate it.”

“It really suppresses powers completely?” asked Sirius hopefully.

“Only for about five minutes,” answered Lily. “I know you were hoping for more.”

Sirius shrugged. “Maybe one day.”

“Although …” said Lily, thoughtfully. “Since you’ve never been touched before, five minutes would probably be long enough for you to get off. Like a teenager.” She grinned at Sirius wickedly.

“Fuck off Evans,” Sirius said, who was furiously blushing and avoiding looking at Remus, who was quite amused. “That’s not the reason I want to suppress my power.” He considered for a couple moments. “It’s not the  _ only _ reason.”

Lily laughed happily. “You’ve known me as a Potter now for longer than you knew me as an Evans. Besides, it’s not like I’m exposing your secrets. You’re gagging for it. We’re all aware.”

“Stop teasing Sirius about things beyond his control,” said James, through his own laughter.

“Alright, alright. Anyway, I was thinking,” continued Lily, “about how Bellatrix would be completely defenseless if we managed to inject her with the serum.”

“Five minutes would be long enough to knock her unconscious,” agreed James. “If we could somehow manage to get her alone like we did with Malfoy then I could invisibly sneak up behind her and dose her.”

“Do we even know where to find her?” asked Remus.

James shook his head. “No, she’s definitely holed up somewhere secret with Voldemort. It won’t be easy to plan like it was with Malfoy who was out in the human world where we could stalk him.”

“We’ll have to lure her out, then,” said Lily practically.

“Without backup,” added Remus.

James stroked his chin thoughtfully. “What can you tell us about her, Padfoot? You know her better than any of us.”

Sirius pondered for a couple moments. “Andromeda knows her better than I do, but I do know that she’s greedy. Especially in regards to impressing Voldemort. She told him about my power to increase her influence with him.”

“So if we bait her with something he really wants she won’t bring backup so that she won’t have to share glory?” clarified Remus.

“That would depend on the thing we attract her with, of course,” said Sirius. “If she knew there were a lot of people guarding it or lots of security then she would obviously bring help.”

“What about if someone wanted to sell her the object of interest? And then we could set up a one-on-one meeting, with me as an invisible observer? Do you think she’d show up alone to that?” asked James.

Sirius bit his lower lip. “I think so? We should confirm with Andromeda, but that sounds like it could work. Bellatrix was always overconfident in her abilities and she would probably think herself much cleverer than whoever she is meeting.”

“Especially if that person were, say, not a mutant?” inquired Remus with false innocence.

The other three looked at him for a long moment. “The Death Eaters are probably already quite angry with you, Moony,” Sirius said cautiously. “There’s no way they don’t know that you were responsible for handing both Peter and Malfoy over to the MRDC.”

“That could actually work in our favour,” pointed out Lily. “Bellatrix would definitely want to come and punish Remus for that.”

“There’s no way that she would trust that Remus was suddenly trying to helpfully sell her something useful after practically announcing his allegiance to the MRDC,” argued Sirius.

“What if …” James started and then drifted off into thought before beginning again. “What if  _ Moony _ was the bait?” Sirius levelled James with an unimpressed glare. “Obviously I don’t want anything bad to happen to Moony, but I was already planning on using him as a lure for when we wanted to capture Greyback,” James finished lamely.

“We’re not putting him in danger!” exclaimed Sirius. “How do we know Bellatrix would come alone? He could be ambushed by a whole group of Death Eaters!”

“If Bellatrix were the only one to know he was vulnerable, she’d definitely go alone,” argued Lily. “She knows that she can take him one-on-one. While she was sufficiently distracted with Remus James could take her out.”

“Woah, I didn’t mean that we should let Bellatrix use her power on him!” protested James. “We can’t let Moony get hurt.”

“Well obviously I don’t want him to get hurt, either,” retorted Lily. “But Bellatrix has to be distracted and you  _ know _ she’ll jump on the offensive so that he can’t incapacitate her.”

“Your plan involves Remus being tortured by an insane Death Eater?” cried Sirius in outrage. “That’s a terrible idea and it won’t be happening!”

“Maybe you should ask Remus what he thinks?” suggested Remus mildly.

“I won’t let you do it, Moony,” Sirius snapped. “It’s a bad plan.”

“I think that it’s a good plan as long as we can ensure that she arrives alone,” said Remus. “We should talk to Tonks about passing information through the Order’s spy network. Maybe we can manage to get the intelligence to one of Bellatrix’s personal spies.”

“I’m still pretty uncomfortable with the whole you getting tortured thing,” said James, while Sirius angrily nodded.

“It won’t be for long, pain affects me less than anyone else, and I’ve undergone worse,” Remus shrugged.

“Moony, no,” said Sirius, a little brokenly.

“Besides,” said Remus with a sharp grin, “this way I won’t feel guilty when I punch her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been trying to match up mutant powers with known attributes of the characters, but I gave McGonagall Kitty Pryde's powers because it amuses me. Also, it was mentioned in passing that Narcissa is basically Storm and the sole reason for that was to explain her white-blonde hair.


	8. Chapter 8

It was sweltering under the Nevada sun as Remus waited by his truck for Bellatrix to arrive. It had only taken a couple weeks to set their plans into motion. As far as they could tell, Bellatrix had taken the bait hook, line and sinker.

Remus shifted uncomfortably and felt sweat make tracks down his face and his back.

“You should be used to this heat,” James, who was invisible, muttered irritably from beside him.

Remus simply hummed noncommittally. He knew that James was annoyed that they had not been able to come up with a plan that kept Remus out of harm’s way and was expressing his worry and frustration as grumpiness. Sirius, too, had been insufferable to be around for the last few days.

There was a dust cloud just visible in the distance that indicated that another vehicle was headed towards them. Kingsley, who was standing by a short distance away with their backup team, contacted their comms to tell them that Moody said that there was only one occupant in the incoming car. Remus let his shoulders relax a little. Maybe Bellatrix actually had been stupid enough to come alone.

As the vehicle came into view, Remus saw that it was a little red sportscar. He straightened up and moved away from his truck, trying to look like he was expecting someone who wanted to buy black market goods, not an insane woman who he was luring into a trap by allowing her to torture him.

The car came to a stop and Bellatrix climbed out.

“Whaaaaa?” said Remus, trying to act like he was caught off guard. “BELLATRIX? What are YOU doing here?” He was pretty sure that he was the worst actor to ever act.

Luckily, Bellatrix either didn’t notice or didn’t care. She cackled happily. “Little Lupin!” she cried. “I’m here to teach you a lesson about messing with people you shouldn’t.”

Although Remus had been expecting it, the pain hit him by surprise. Bellatrix was able to stimulate pain centres in the brain and she seemed to have activated every single one of his at once. He felt like his bones were on fire and his head was splitting. He screamed, falling to the ground, wishing for nothing but for the pain to stop.

Suddenly, it did. Bellatrix was grasping her arm where there was a puncture wound and staring around in confusion. Remus didn’t hesitate. He rushed towards her and knocked her unconscious as quickly as her could. He then collapsed back to the ground, trying to catch his breath.

He saw James rematerialize close by. He was binding Bellatrix and calling in their backup. James then grabbed a bottle of water from his pocket and crouched next to Remus, supporting him while he drank. Remus’ muscles were still spasming and James was stroking his hair when Kingsley arrived with the cavalry. Remus stood up a little shakily, assured James that he would be fine, hoisted Bellatrix up, and was teleported by Kingsley to the MRDC.

**********

Although Remus had not been a huge fan of the plan to let Bellatrix torture him while it had been happening, he did enjoy the aftermath. His friends spent the next week pampering him and catering to his every desire and he knew that he had a good excuse to get out of anything he didn’t want to do in the future.

The Order of the Phoenix had moved on to discussing the capture of Fenrir Greyback. Remus knew that it was unnecessary to capture Greyback to get to Voldemort; they had a very fragile alliance based on mutual hatred of the MRDC but Greyback had originally joined the MRDC with the desire to kill mutants. It was also likely that Remus’ recent actions would have caused Voldemort to trust Greyback, another product of the wolf-serum, less. However, Remus was determined that if they were taking out their enemies that they would definitely be going after the man who had ruined his life. The plan was just starting to take shape when an incredibly unwelcome guest appeared at an Order of the Phoenix meeting.

Remus was sitting in his usual seat in the meeting room talking softly to Sirius when Dumbledore rolled his wheelchair into the meeting, followed closely by Severus Snape.

Snape was not a mutant, but his father had been one and so had spent time in his childhood in Hogsmeade. When he never development mutant powers his bitterness became overwhelming and he had devoted his life to working against mutant interests. Despite many objections and his ties to both the Death Eaters (as he had worked for a time with Voldemort to try to replicate Sirius’ power by science) and the MRDC (he worked as a researcher at their headquarters and had been the man responsible for the experiments on Remus), Dumbledore allowed him free access to Hogwarts.

Snape was a tall man with chin-length greasy black hair, black eyes, a hook nose and yellowing teeth. He had an unpleasant countenance and couldn’t help but show his disdain for those he considered lesser than him (which was everyone, as far as Remus could tell). 

“What are you doing here?” demanded James as soon as he saw him.

“Do quiet yourself, Potter,” drawled Snape in reply. “I am here to provide help to your pathetic organization.” Remus looked at the table and took deep breaths to try to quell his urge to stand up and punch Snape very, very hard.

“We don’t want anything from you,” spat James. James and Snape had been enemies during childhood and James’ hatred had only grown following Remus’ captivity.

“I do,” put in Sirius. “I want you to go die.”

“Lupin, control your animals,” said Snape snidely.

“Snape,” said Lily, with sickeningly sweet politeness, cutting through James and Sirius’ shouts of anger, “why don’t you tell us why you’ve come?”

Snape straightened up and gave Lily a nauseating smile. Then he sneered towards Remus. “It’s been brought to my attention that you clods are attempting to capture Fenrir Greyback,” he said. “And I have something that may help you with that.”

“... and that would be…?” asked Tonks eventually when he didn’t elaborate.

Snape smirked. “A cure for his  _ unfortunate _ condition.”

There was a ringing silence around the meeting table. Remus felt like his stomach had dropped into his feet. He heard a rushing sound in his ears and felt an odd numb sensation overcoming him.

“A cure?” gasped Lily.

“You have something that would counteract the effects of the wolf serum?” demanded Sirius. “He would be a normal human?”

“Well,” said Snape disparagingly, “that monster will never be a  _ normal _ human. But I have, in my outstanding genius -” here, most occupants of the room rolled their eyes, “- fabricated an antidote that completely reverses the effects of wolf serum.”

“That’s … that’s amazing, Snape,” said Lily in wonder. “Thank you.”

“There is just one small catch, though,” said Snape.

“Of course there is,” muttered Sirius.

“What is it?” growled James.

“This antidote was created using the last known sample of the original wolf serum. I paired it with spinal fluid that I acquired from a wolf-serum test subject -”

“You mean that you took from Remus against his will when you captured him?” demanded Sirius.

“- which caused a little bit of instability,” continued Snape as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “It is impossible to replicate and I only have one dose.”

Again there was complete silence.

“One dose?” Lily finally asked. “So we can only cure one of them?”

“Yes, you can only cure one of the abominations,” said Snape disinterestedly.

“Oh, fuck  _ off _ Snape,” snarled Sirius.

“Well, I think the decision’s easy,” said Tonks with finality. “We’ll cure Remus.”

“Fenrir Greyback is one of the most dangerous men on the planet,” argued Moody, “and he only gets away with his crimes because his powers protect him. We have to stop him.”

“How do we know that Snape’s telling the truth about the antidote?” asked James.

“We can’t get rid of Remus’ powers,” put in Dorcas, “We need him on our side.”

“It would be in Remus’ best interest, medically speaking, to cure him,” said Dr. Pomfrey.

“This is an untested substance!” argued McGonagall. “What if it makes him worse or kills him?”

As the arguments continued around them, Sirius sat silently watching Remus. Remus’ chest was beginning to feel tight and he was having trouble breathing.

“Thank you, Severus,” said Dumbledore loudly, effectively cutting off all discussion. “You’ve given us a great gift and a lot to think about.” He then adjourned the meeting and left, followed by Snape, his cloak fluttering dramatically around him like an overgrown bat.

**********

Remus spent the next few days in contemplation. He knew that the Order had hotly debated how to use the antidote and it had been decided that the final decision would be Remus’. He tried to consider all the possible ramifications before he told Sirius about his choice.

“I’m not going to take it,” he said.

“What? No!” exploded Sirius. “Please, Moony, you have to take it.”

“It’s an untested substance, created by Snape. I don’t trust it at all.”

“It’s a cure! It will cure you!”

“Just because you believe that doesn’t make it true. And if it’s a cure, it should be used to stop Greyback. Taking away his powers will be the worst punishment imaginable for him.”

“Moony, no, you have to take it.  _ You _ have to be cured.” Sirius was desperate now.

“Sirius, if it works as advertised I’ll lose my powers. I won’t be able to help the Order.”

“If you don’t take it,  _ you’ll die _ .” Sirius started crying. “You can’t die, Moony. Please, please don’t leave me.”

“I would have to leave anyway if I took it. I’m not a mutant, I don’t belong here. Especially if I don’t have powers.”

“That doesn’t matter! You’d still be here with the people who love you!”

“I couldn’t touch you ever again, Sirius. I would have to leave. I couldn’t stay here and not be able to touch you.”

“But you’d be alive!”

“And what good would my life be if I couldn’t be with the people I loved? If I couldn’t help protect them? It would be even worse than when I was sad and alone in Phoenix.”

“You could have a normal life,” protested Sirius. 

“Why would I want to live when all of the things of value had been stripped from my life? Would you?”

“Yes!”

“Really? If there was suddenly a cure for your powers, but it meant losing important parts of yourself, you would take it without hesitation? You would give up your mechanical intuition and Hogwarts and James and Harry and me?”

“I don’t know why you are insisting that you’ll lose everyone. If you feel like you have to stay away from me, fine! But everyone else can still be around you. James has loved you since he was a child, I don’t think he’ll stop just because you’re suddenly powerless.”

“We’d live in different worlds, of course I’d lose them eventually. And you didn’t answer the question.”

“Yes! I would give up everything to live. Because if you’re alive there’s always hope that something good can happen. But if you give up, if you let yourself die, then there’s absolutely no chance for future happiness.”

Remus was contemplatively silent. Sirius reached out and stroked his arm.

“Please, Moony,” he begged. “Please, please, please, for everyone who loves you, please take a chance. Please, please, please take the cure.”

“I’m sorry, Padfoot.”

Sirius gave a choked sob. “That’s your final decision? You won’t take it?”

Remus shook his head and he knew Sirius could read the resolve on his face. Sirius, with tears streaming down his face, turned on his heel and stormed out of Remus’ room, slamming the door viciously behind him.


	9. Chapter 9

If Remus had expected more arguments from Sirius about taking the cure, he was mistaken. Sirius never mentioned the cure again, except in relation to their plan to take out Greyback. James and Lily had both pleaded that Remus cure himself but they, too, seemed to give up suspiciously quickly. Remus had expected tantrums and pleading and Sirius getting everyone to plead with Remus to change his mind, but instead he had returned to being affectionate and attentive and was acting like they’d never had an argument. This behaviour was so unlike Sirius that Remus grew a little alarmed.

“Look,” sighed Sirius sadly one day when Remus had brought up his confusion, “I want you to take the cure, obviously. I haven’t changed my mind about that. But it’s your decision. And I don’t want to spend the rest of our time together arguing or being angry; we’ve spent enough of our lives wasted on that, already. So I want us to just be happy and in love for as long as we can, alright?”

Remus had agreed and they had returned to planning how to cure Greyback. The plan was very simple and had come together easily, so it was not long before they were putting it into motion.

Greyback, although he frequently worked with the Death Eaters was not an official member of their organization. He had a compound in North Carolina where he and several anti-government zealots lived. Remus knew that Greyback respected and honoured the law of retaliation (or the principle of “an eye for an eye”), so he had contacted him to challenge him to single combat as revenge for the sins committed against him.

They met in a field near Greyback’s compound in late June, each one accompanied by five guards. Remus had brought mutants who would be able to effectively protect themselves from rednecks with guns. He knew that he couldn’t beat Greyback in single combat; the man was better trained than he was and extremely vicious, but all he needed was to get close enough to stab him with the syringe that he currently had palmed.

The guards made a circle in the field and Greyback and Remus crashed together in the middle of it. Remus took several punches, letting Greyback feel comfortable, letting him get the upper hand. Eventually Greyback wrestled him to the ground and Remus took his chance, jabbing the cure into Greyback’s side. The effect was instantaneous. Greyback started convulsing and turning a deep shade of purple. He began coughing up blood. There was pandemonium among Greyback’s guards and Remus could see a battle commencing in his peripheral vision as he watched Greyback in shock. Eventually, Greyback stopped convulsing, but he was clearly dead. What had gone wrong with the cure? Had Snape lied? For what purpose?

Suddenly, Remus felt a puncture in his arm and he whirled around to see the rematerializing face of James Potter, who was supposed to currently be at Hogwarts.

“James? What are you doing here?” he gasped. He was having trouble breathing and he felt like fire was racing through his veins.

“We couldn’t let you do it, Moony,” said James, looking distraught and sparing a glance for Greyback’s body.

“Couldn’t let me …” Realization crashed into Remus. “You switched syringes? You injected me with the cure? You poisoned Greyback?”

Steely resolve appeared on James’ face. “We weren’t going to let you die when there was a cure available.”

Fury tore through Remus but he was really having trouble breathing now. He felt like his skin was itchy and too tight for his body. The shouts from the fighting were louder now and Remus saw James’ eyes widen as he saw something over Remus’ shoulder.

The last thing Remus remembered was James tackling him to the ground.

**********

Remus woke up in a nightmare. He was strapped down on a bed in a white, brightly lit room. His body ached all over and felt extremely weak. His vision was blurry and it felt like someone had stuffed cotton balls in his ears. And he recognized the room as an examination room in a MRDC facility.

The last time he had suddenly woken up in MRDC captivity he’d had no idea where he was.

Following their graduation from Hogwarts, Lily, James and Peter had left to go study at university while Remus had remained behind with Sirius and taken distance education courses, eventually earning a degree in History. Dumbledore had then suggested that Remus take a law degree, as a lawyer would be a useful asset for his campaign for mutant rights. Remus had not wanted to leave Sirius alone to go to school, but had eventually agreed when James and Lily had returned to teach at Hogwarts.

Dumbledore used his contacts to gain Remus admission to Columbia University law school where Remus could gain a good education in both human and mutant rights. For three years he had studied hard, visiting home as often as he could, so that he could one day help fight for the benefit of mutants everywhere.

After he had gained his degree, Dumbledore began sending him to many meetings with other mutant advocates or lawmakers. Over time Remus began disagreeing with Dumbledore’s vision for the future of mutants and they began to frequently argue about what reforms Remus should be attempting to lobby for. During a meeting in Washington that Dumbledore had organized, about three years after Remus’ graduation, armed men had stormed in, surrounded him, and hit him from all sides with tasers.

He’d awoken in an examination room, confused and upset. He’d met Dolores Umbridge, the MRDC director, who introduced him to Snape who’d explained that he was there because they’d needed a wolf-serum test subject. He was kept heavily sedated to prevent him from overpowering them while they performed their medical experiments.

He was brought to an exercise room where he was forced to undergo grueling conditioning under the supervision of a drill sergeant where he was tased as a punishment to force him to participate in the training and was tased into unconsciousness if he became overly aggressive.

He was miserable and angry and helpless and he couldn’t believe that Dumbledore hadn’t arranged to have him rescued. 

After about a year in captivity he met Regulus Black. He’d been aware of Regulus’ existence from Sirius’ childhood stories, but as Sirius hadn’t been outside of Hogwarts or Hogsmeade since he was eleven, Remus had never met him. Regulus told him about how he had joined the Death Eaters because of pressure from his family and his own belief that mutants were naturally superior to humans and the two should be kept apart. However, he had grown disillusioned with Voldemort and his quest for personal power, especially his unrelenting desire to kill Regulus’ only brother, so Regulus had joined with his enemy to try to take Voldemort out of power.

Regulus began visiting with Remus regularly and Remus eventually discerned that the life that Regulus was living, away from his own people, surrounded by people who hated his very existence, was incredibly lonely, and they had struck up a friendship.

Eventually Remus had been offered the possibility of release as long as he agreed to turn mutants that needed to be detained over to the MRDC. Remus was quite sure that Regulus was responsible for this offer; Snape would have left him to rot forever in his cell, even though he was no longer needed for experimentation.

Remus had desperately hoped never to find himself held by the MRDC again and he glanced around the room he was in as he began to panic.

“Lupin,” Snape’s snide voice came from across the room, sounding a little muffled. Remus looked in his direction, but he felt like he had clear film over his eyes.

“What have you done to my eyes and ears?” Remus asked fearfully.

Snape scoffed, like he had asked the stupidest question available. “You took the cure, did you not? So you are cured. Your increased senses have returned to normal.”

“I’m cured?” he repeated, scarcely believing that the cure had actually worked. “I’m completely human?” Even as he asked the question he noticed the strange silence in his mind. He’d always been aware of the snarling anger in the back of his mind, his wolf. But now there was nothing. Silence. All of his thoughts were his own. He was angry at Snape for holding him captive, but the blood lust that often accompanied his anger was missing. Was this what is was like, not to share your head with another consciousness?

“Not exactly,” said Snape, pulling Remus from his thoughts, trying to think what his question had been.

“What do you mean, I’m not exactly human?”

“There was another component of the cure that I failed to disclose previously.”

“One day, someone, somewhere, is going to punch you  _ so hard _ for being the person that you are and you are going to thoroughly deserve it,” said Remus, savagely.

“Your threats are not impressive, Lupin,” said Snape smoothly.

“What did you put in the cure?” growled Remus.

“Ever since I was young,” started Snape.

“Oh my God, are you giving me a villain monologue?”

Snape just smirked at his captive audience and started over. “Ever since I was young, I realized how arrogant and selfish all mutants were.”

“You mean you were bitter and jealous because you didn’t inherit your father’s mutant gene and you decided to punish those who were not as unfortunate.”

“And I knew that there were two ways to teach everyone that mutants were not special, that they didn’t deserve any special recognition. The first way was to take away the mutants’ powers. You’ve seen the results of those experiments, but that’s as far as I can go down that avenue. Mutant physiology prevents me from getting the power-suppressing serum to work for a longer amount of time.”

“So you found that you couldn’t just take away the others’ toys when they wouldn’t share with you?” asked Remus scathingly.

Snape sneered at him and continued his story. “The second way was to create synthetic mutants. To turn all humans into mutants. So that when everyone had powers  _ no one _ would be special.”

“Still sounds like jealousy to me. You’ve been jealous of James since we were children.”

“I am not  _ jealous _ of arrogant fools like Potter!” cried Snape suddenly, unable to keep ignoring Remus’ taunts. “He has done nothing to deserve what he’s been given freely! I have  _ earned my reward. _ ”

“You just want a cool superpower! Have you considered that some powers may be a curse?”

“A curse? You were given powers, allowed to pretend to be a mutant, accepted without question, and you complain about the gift you stole. You are completely without merit; I deserve a power!” Snape sputtered in rage.

“You’re grossly oversimplifying my situation, but even putting that aside, powers are provided by a  _ naturally occurring mutation. _ No one has done anything to deserve having it or not.”

“I do! I should have been a mutant, my father was one. It was only his poor choice of a human wife that has doomed me to this … this life of ordinariness. No, I can’t let this stand. I was able to create a synthetic mutant S gene that should be able to confer superpowers, but I couldn’t find a way to get it to express properly in living humans. I don’t know how your father managed to do it with his wolf serum and the nearsighted fool destroyed his research!”

“Maybe because of the horrible side effects that serum had!”

“I’ll admit the serum was deeply flawed, but after studying your genetics I realized that I could effectively swap out the genetic code responsible for the wolf powers with my synthetic mutant S gene! And here you are: the world’s first synthetic mutant.”

“I’m expressing the mutant S gene?” Remus asked in wonder. “I’m a mutant?”

“You are expressing the mutant S gene at levels that are similar to those of natural mutants. We’ll have to do some testing to make sure you actually gained a power, but I believe that I’ve been successful.”

“This method of creating synthetic mutants can only work on people who have been exposed to the wolf serum. It can’t help you,” argued Remus.

“I have you here now,” Snape smiled evilly. “And you’re never getting away. I’m going to run every kind of experiment imaginable. I’m going to take you apart to see how you work. You’re going to die in agony and I’m going to finally solve the problem that I have been working on for my entire life.”

**********

The testing did not begin badly. Snape seemed to be letting Remus get used to his decreased abilities. Remus felt blind and deaf and slow and weak at first, but was becoming more accustomed to his new reality. He still had undergone military training and felt that if given time to acclimate he could still be an effective combatant.

Despite all of the testing, Remus had still not demonstrated that he had gained a power by virtue of now expressing the mutant S gene. Snape put him through all sorts of trials in an effort to get his power to manifest but nothing had yet happened. Remus was happy about the amount of frustration this caused Snape, but was disappointed that he hadn’t gained a power. He had really been hoping that he had gained the ability to somehow set Snape on fire or cover him in corrosive acid or make him explode so that he could escape. He was fairly surprised by his elaborate and violent revenge fantasies, as he had always believed that those thoughts were coming from his wolf. Apparently he was just someone who liked the idea of punching people who annoyed him.

“Maybe I have a useless power,” Remus suggested. “Like the ability to grow my fingernails slightly faster.” He couldn’t help but needle Snape. “Congratulations on synthetically creating the world’s worst superpower.” Snape just glowered at him. “I bet that you would also have a useless power,” continued Remus. “Or maybe it would be something that could actually benefit you, like spontaneous shampoo production or a better personality.”

“I’m really going to enjoy cutting you into pieces, Lupin,” Snape growled and dramatically stalked away, leaving Remus feeling vaguely satisfied.

One night, less than a week into his captivity, he was shaken awake by Regulus Black.

“Regulus?” Remus asked sleepily. “What are you doing here?”

Regulus gave him a sharp grin. “I’m here to emulate my reckless older brother. I’m being incredibly foolish.”

“What’s happening?” asked Remus, sitting up and trying to shake the cobwebs from his sleep-addled mind.

Regulus gave a deep sigh and shook his head like he couldn’t believe what he was doing. “I’m here to rescue you.”


	10. Chapter 10

Remus stared at Regulus in amazement. “You’re here to rescue me,” he repeated dumbly.

Regulus huffed an impatient sigh. “Yes, so if you could let me get on with it …?”

“But …” Remus was still trying to wrap his head around what was happening. “They’ll know it was you. You’ll be in danger.”

“I know. I’m leaving for good.”

“You’re leaving? You’re giving up all the hard work you’ve put in to get yourself well situated here? Everything you’ve been working towards for years? To rescue me?  _ Why? _ ” demanded Remus.

Regulus rolled his eyes and looked profoundly embarrassed. “Well …” he looked like what he was admitting was causing him actual pain, “you’re my  _ friend. _ Frankly, you’re my only friend. Hell, you’re basically my brother-in-law. You put me back into contact with my brother who I thought that I’d never see again. So I’m not about to let Snape keep you here forever and cut you into pieces. Let’s just say that my interests diverged from those of the MRDC.”

“Oh, I see what you’re saying,” said Remus teasingly. “Hello, Future Regulus. Thank you for this. I love you too.”

Regulus grimaced. “Shut up. And I hate Past Regulus for putting me in this position, but he’d probably be horrified by all of these ...  _ feelings _ that I have. Now, will you please get moving so I can complete my heroic rescue?”

Regulus set a bag on Remus’ bed and rummaged around in it, eventually unearthing a MRDC uniform, complete with kevlar vest and helmet, for Remus to put on. He also extracted two tranquilizer guns and handed one to Remus.

“You were trained how to shoot, right?” he asked. Remus nodded, pulled on the helmet and took the gun.

“You take the bag,” said Regulus, leading him out of the room.

Remus turned to sling the bag over his shoulder but struggled a little with its weight. “Why’s it so heavy?” he hissed after Regulus.

Regulus turned and gave him an incredulous look. “Are you kidding me? It’s too heavy for you?”

“Yes, well,” said Remus sheepishly, “I don’t have super strength anymore, do I? Honestly, what’s in here, rocks?”

“It’s all the hard drives containing Snape’s research,” said Regulus with a shrug. “That should put his research back a decade or two.”

“Are you insane?” demanded Remus. “He’s going to hunt us down and  _ kill us _ .”

“He wants to kill you anyway, or did you forget why I was rescuing you? Besides, if I’m leaving the MRDC I want to do it with a bang.”

“Hopefully not a literal bang,” said Remus dryly.

“Um,” said Regulus a little bashfully. “Sure. I’m definitely not planning on setting off the explosives I’ve rigged into that bag.”

Remus shot him a sideways glare. “You always claimed that you were nothing like Sirius.”

Regulus scoffed. “Everyone likes explosions.”

They were passing through the staff lunchroom towards the security exit when there was a muffled thump and a grunt of pain under the table closest to the door. To Remus’ shock Peter Pettigrew climbed out from under the table, rubbing his head and wincing. Peter looked up at them with wide eyes.

“Peter?” asked Remus.

“Were you trying to escape?” inquired Regulus, curiously.

“Well, yes,” admitted Peter. “I was under the table in miniature form waiting for the door to open so I could sneak through. But suddenly my power stopped working.” He screwed his eyes closed for a moment. “Why isn’t my power working?”

“I don’t know,” said Regulus pleasantly, “but you should head on back to your cell now.” He gestured with his tranquilizer gun.

“No, please, no. Remus, old friend, are you escaping? Take me with you, please. I’ll make it up to you.”

“I’m sorry, Peter,” said Remus. “You chose your path a long time ago.”

“You don’t know the pressure I was under!” snapped Peter. “All of you, so idealistic. Why should we cooperate with the humans? What have they ever done for us? Voldemort had the right idea -” he was cut off by Regulus shooting him with a tranquilizer.

“Odd that his powers weren’t working,” said Regulus. “I wonder if he was somehow dosed with the power-suppressing serum.”

“It seems unlikely, since it just suddenly happened now,” said Remus. “Unless there’s a time-lapse formula.”

Regulus shrugged. “Let’s go.” He punched the security code into the door and led Remus to the elevators on the other side.

They exited the elevators in the lobby and Regulus indicated that Remus should leave the bag of hard drives there. He then led Remus out of the building and when they were about a block away, he punched a code into his phone. There was the rumble of a small explosion behind them and Regulus smiled.

Regulus handed Remus his phone. “Call your helpline and get your teleporter to meet us somewhere close by.”

Ten minutes later, Kingsley teleported into their meeting location and wrapped Remus in a relieved hug.

“We’ve all been worried,” he said. He gave Regulus an assessing look and then grabbed hold both of them. Nothing happened.

“What’s wrong?” asked Remus.

“I don’t know,” answered Kingsley. “My power won’t work.”

“What?” demanded Regulus. “How can it not work? Has this ever happened before?”

“No, I don’t know what’s going on,” said Kingsley, quite distressed.

Regulus was looking at Remus with a expression of dawning comprehension on his face. “Alright. Start walking away from us and keep trying to teleport back to Hogwarts. When you get there ask someone to fly your plane to pick us up. Remus will contact you with the details of where we’ll be waiting.”

Kingsley did as instructed and when he was about ten feet away from them he was suddenly able to teleport away.

“Oh,” said Regulus softly, looking at Remus in awe. “Oh, we need to get you far, far away from the MRDC.”

**********

They reached Hogwarts early the following evening. Regulus had driven them through the night to an airfield in northern Pennsylvania where they had met Kingsley’s plane. There’d been a stop at Aberforth’s, where Remus remained on the plane, for Regulus’ motives to be vetted before they flew to Hogwarts.

Kingsley directed them to Dumbledore’s office and Remus knocked on the door and waited until they were asked to enter. Sirius, James and Lily were waiting with Dumbledore. Sirius took an involuntary step towards Remus when he saw him and then retreated to the far side of the office as Remus was enveloped in hugs by James and Lily. Remus took a seat directly in front of Dumbledore’s desk; Regulus hovered to his right and James and Lily were standing against the wall on his left.

“Welcome back, Remus,” said Dumbledore warmly. He was looking directly into Remus’ eyes and a confused frown appeared on his face. “Why don’t you tell us what has happened?”

“I was hoping that you could tell me the first part,” said Remus. “The last thing I remember before waking up at an MRDC facility was James injecting me with the wolf serum antidote.”

“The MRDC showed up,” said James a little sheepishly. “They overpowered Greyback’s gang and somehow in the confusion they managed to capture you. I was worried that they were there to detain all of the mutants so I was trying to marshal a defence, but they suddenly retreated and only then did I notice they took you and Greyback’s body with them.”

“Are you cured?” asked Sirius from across the room.

“Yes,” answered Remus.

James gasped. “So you’re completely human now?”

“Not exactly,” replied Regulus blandly. “Snape had hidden a little surprise in the antidote.”

“What kind of surprise?” asked James in trepidation, obviously worried about what was wrong with the serum he had injected into his friend. “Do you still have your powers?”

“No, my wolf powers are gone. No more super strength or senses. What’s happened is a little unbelievable; however, I just want you to know -”

“He’s a mutant now,” said Regulus simply, cutting Remus off. Everyone in the room stared at him in shock and Remus glared at him for stealing his news. “Snape made him into a synthetic mutant.”

“How …” Lily seemed the only one capable of speech, but she still trailed off. “What is your power?” she finished lamely.

Remus met Dumbledore’s eyes and raised one of his eyebrows. “I’m sure you have a idea, Professor,” he challenged.

Dumbledore looked at him searchingly for a couple moments before nodding. “James, please turn invisible. Lily, make a force field,” he requested.

The two of them shared a look before shrugging. Nothing happened.

“What’s going on?” asked James.

“That’s Remus’ power,” said Regulus. “Other mutant powers don’t work around him.”

Lily choked a little and started to ask a question, but Remus was distracted as Sirius suddenly moved quickly towards him. Remus stood up to face him. Sirius exhaled shakily and then raised his hand to hover beside Remus’ cheek. He kept his hand there, shaking slightly, for a couple moments before he made contact. Remus expected the electric shock that he had always gotten from Sirius’ touch, but there was nothing. Just a warm hand on his face. Sirius’ face slackened in shock, he made a little sound in the back of his throat, and then he looked up into Remus’ eyes. 

“Maybe we should give them some privacy?” suggested Regulus dryly, as Sirius surged forwards into Remus, capturing his lips in a bruising kiss.

**********

Later, they were lying tangled together in Remus’ bed, Sirius with his head on Remus’ chest and was drawing patterns with his fingers on Remus’ chest and abs. Remus felt boneless and sated. He hummed contentedly.

“This is nice,” Sirius said lazily.

“Yes, I’ve heard that people generally enjoy sex,” drawled Remus.

“Not that,” said Sirius, a blush rising on his cheeks. “I mean, that was nice, yes.”

“Thank you,” said Remus dryly.

“But I meant this. Just lying together, skin on skin. Without me draining your strength. I’ve never had this.”

“Me, neither. I’ve never been in bed with anyone else.”

“Really?” asked Sirius, looking up in surprise. “I thought you had, when we were apart.”

“Of course I haven’t,” replied Remus. “It’s always been you, Sirius. Even though we couldn’t touch for long.”

Sirius hummed happily and resumed his drawing.

Remus cleared his throat. “We do have to discuss how you conspired with James to inject me with an unknown substance against my will.”

Sirius buried his face in Remus’ chest. “I know it was wrong. I know I should have respected your choices. But I promised I’d do whatever it took to save you, Moony. I’m sorry I hurt you but I’m not sorry about what I did.”

“You know, Sirius, a lot of people have done things to my body without my consent. And it’s incredibly painful that you and James, two people I trust more than anyone, would expressly ignore my wishes. But I do understand where you were coming from. I might have made the same choices if I were you. And I would definitely have been a lot more angry if everything hadn’t worked out in our favour. I guess the bottom line is that I forgive you, but don’t ever do anything like that again.”

Sirius planted a kiss in the middle of Remus’ chest. “Okay, Moony. I’ll never again do anything to your body without your enthusiastic consent.”

Remus chuckled. “Just so you know, you have my consent to kiss me whenever you feel like it.”

“Good,” said Sirius with a sleepy smile. “Because I always feel like it and you’re the only one I want to kiss.”

“Are you sure?” teased Remus. “Now that I suppress your power we can go to a club and you can have drunken hookups as long as I stay close by. Make up for all the experiences you missed as an attractive teenager and twenty-something.”

Sirius wrinkled his nose. “Ew,” he said, and gave Remus a small swat on his side. “That sounds awful. Jerk. Don’t want anyone but you.”

“Luckily you have me.”

Sirius looked up at him earnestly. “It is lucky,” he said. “I used to believe that I was cursed because of my power. That I had done something terrible as a child and that I was being punished. And then I came to Hogwarts and I fell in love with you and it was like a reward. Like some higher power had felt bad about my curse so they made it so that I could touch you. Somehow the love of my life was the one person in the world that I could touch, however briefly. And now you’ve been cured of the powers that were killing you and I can touch you forever if I want to.” He trailed off and laid his head back on Remus’ chest. “I’m just so, so lucky.”

Remus gently stroked Sirius’ hair and they lay together in thoughtful contemplation for a while. Eventually Sirius started yawning and pulled away.

“I’m tired,” he said reluctantly. “I’m sure you are, too. I should go to bed.”

“So sleep,” said Remus, unsure of what the problem was.

Sirius stared at him in surprise for several moments. “Oh,” he said quietly, “I can sleep here. I can sleep here, with you, tangled up together all night. We can sleep curled up together and I don’t have to worry that we may accidentally move into skin contact during the night and that I’ll wake up cuddling your corpse.”

Remus snickered. “Well, that’s a little morbid, but yes, you can sleep here. I want you to sleep here. Please stay.”

“Oh,” said Sirius again, glancing around the room as several things obviously occurred to him. “I can move in here. Or you can move in to my room. My closet is bigger, that would probably be better. And we can hold hands even when I’m not wearing gloves. And I can come into contact with other people as long as you’re beside me. I could walk around  _ without gloves or a shirt on. _ ”

Remus was outright laughing now. “Yes, all that and more, love.”

“I love you, Moony. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And that was true, even before this happened. I don’t want you to think that it’s just because of your new power that I want to be with you. I’ve loved you forever.”

“I know, Padfoot. I’ve loved you forever, too.”

Remus turned off the light and Sirius sighed happily and curled up against him. His breathing grew deeper and Remus thought he had drifted off to sleep but then Sirius suddenly spoke again. “Moony? When we beat Voldemort and it’s safe for me to leave Hogwarts, can we go to the beach? I’ve got an urge to be mostly naked in public.”


	11. Chapter 11

The following morning, Sirius and Remus arrived early for breakfast. Sirius had forgone wearing gloves and was deliriously happy about that fact. As he was left handed, he kept his right hand intertwined with Remus’ at all times. 

“Oh, you two are going to be sickeningly romantic all the time now, aren’t you?” asked James with a smile in his voice. He kissed Remus on the forehead to wish him good morning.

Sirius looked up a James from his seat and gave him an incredibly proud smile. “Yes, yes we are,” he bragged. James chuckled and then a surprised look came over his face. He stepped forwards and also gave Sirius a kiss on his forehead.

Sirius smiled and then detached his hand from Remus, stood up and grabbed James in a hug. Sirius laughed and ran his hand through James’ hair. “I’ve always wanted to know what your hedgehog hair felt like!” he crowed, and then hugged Lily who had come up behind James.

Once they had all taken their seats again, James and Lily’s attention turned to Remus.

“Regulus told us a little about what Snape was planning yesterday after you and Sirius … left,” said James.

Remus groaned. “Oh my God, you guys, I guess I’m kind of grateful to him for giving the antidote and making me a mutant, but Snape is the  _ actual worst _ . I mean, I didn’t like him before, but now I really want him to spontaneously combust. I was really hoping for an offensive power so that I could teach him a lesson about his whole mad scientist routine. I’m not looking forward to the next time he comes waltzing into Hogwarts now that his main interest is dissecting me.”

“Regulus managed to convince Dumbledore to revoke Snape’s access to Hogwarts. Apparently Dumbledore’s suddenly interested in protecting you from the MRDC,” said Lily.

“I imagine he sees more of a use for me than he does for Snape, currently,” said Remus, rolling his eyes.

“Snape has no use. He’s a complete waste of space,” grumbled Sirius.

“Actual human garbage,” agreed James.

“I don’t know,” said Lily slowly. “If he weren’t such a bitter asshole his research could really benefit mutants. Maybe Dumbledore was hoping that he’d be a better person?”

“It’s more likely that Snape owes Dumbledore a favour so Dumbledore was keeping him around,” said Remus.

“Well at least Regulus struck back at Snape by blowing up his research,” said James proudly.

Sirius wiped a fake tear from his eye. “It’s the first time I was honoured to say he’s my brother.”

“Be nice to Regulus,” Remus admonished. “He rescued me.”

Sirius looked petulant. At Remus’ pointed look, he let out a sigh. “I guess he’s alright. Since he brought you back to me and all.”

“Oh, yes that reminds me of something I wanted to talk to you two about,” said James, clearing his throat and looking awkward.

“James, no,” moaned Lily and put her head down on the table.

“Now that you two can be physically intimate -” started James uncomfortably.

“James,” said Remus sharply, cutting him off. “If you try to give us a sex talk, I will stab you with a fork. I may not have super strength anymore but it will still hurt. A lot. Do. Not. Do. It.”

James opened his mouth as if to speak. “Don’t,” warned Remus brandishing his fork at him. “I will hunt you down. You can’t hide from me anymore, Potter.”

James’ shoulders slumped and he pouted. “Fine,” he eventually grumbled.

“Oh, thank Christ,” said Lily, her head popping back up off the table. “Good work, Remus. It’s good you still have that scary threatening thing working for you.”

“Well I do still remember my military training; I think I can be efficiently threatening. It’s probably helpful that everyone already assumes I’m a dangerous, super strong soldier.”

“Good thing you’re using your skill to ward off only truly terrible events, like James giving us a sex talk,” said Sirius. He paused for a second. “I know that sounded sarcastic, but it wasn’t. That’s really the most horrific thing I can think of right now.”

“I hate all of you,” James muttered. “I was trying to be supportive. What will I do with the helpful pamphlets?”

“Give them to Harry,” suggested Remus.

“I already gave Harry a sex talk,” protested James.

“I’m pretty sure it was the most traumatic experience of his life,” laughed Lily. “He wouldn’t make eye contact with  _ anyone _ for a week following that talk.”

“But …” said James thoughtfully. “I only covered cisgendered heterosexual sex. I mean, I mentioned other possibilities but didn’t go into detail. Do you think I should give him a more comprehensive sex talk? Do you think he’s not straight?”

“He’s only twelve,” said Sirius with a shrug, “but with the way he’s been checking out Diggory I highly doubt that he is completely straight.”

“Oh,” said James sounding excited. “It’s going to be the best sex talk  _ ever _ . I’ll have pamphlets, and diagrams, and oh! You two could be special guest speakers! Maybe we should give the talk to the whole school? Maybe a play!”

“Harry’s going to melt into a puddle of embarrassed goo if you do any of those things, James,” said Remus mildly.

Sirius giggled happily. “It’s the best idea ever! I haven’t experienced any schadenfreude at Harry’s expense for a while. I’m going to film the talk and show it at his wedding!”

Remus rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe you’re doing this to our godson. He will figuratively die of shame.”

Sirius elbowed him in the side and leaned it to mutter, “At least James’ focus is no longer on our sex life. Harry is taking a bullet for the team.”

********** 

That evening they were all relaxing in the Potters’ suite. James was detailing the Canada Day fireworks Remus had missed during his brief captivity and Sirius and Lily were discussing places that they could visit once Voldemort had been dealt with when there was a sudden knock at the door.

Lily got up to answer it and found Regulus waiting outside the room, shifting nervously from foot to foot. She invited him in and he took a seat, looking at them awkwardly for a couple moments before he took a deep breath and said, “I have a plan to kill Voldemort.”

**********

Two weeks later Remus was alongside Regulus, James, and Sirius on a plane flown by Kingsley heading towards a meeting with Voldemort.

Regulus had sent a message to Voldemort to explain that Regulus had left the MRDC, destroying a lot of their research, and was interested in rejoining the Death Eaters. To atone and to gain forgiveness for his earlier defection, he would bring Sirius to Voldemort. The plan was simple: Regulus would distract Voldemort by offering up Sirius and then Remus would suppress everyone’s power so that they could take him out.

Remus got up to pace the plane. He did not like the idea of actually letting Sirius get close to Voldemort. The plan was solid and they had debated all aspects of it thoroughly but he was still nervous. Near the back of the plan, he heard a strange noise in one of the storage compartments. He opened the compartment and came face to face with Harry Potter.

“Harry? What are you doing here? James!” he cried. He pulled Harry out of the compartment and dragged him over to where everyone was seated.

“Harry?” asked Sirius.

“Harry?” James echoed in dismay.

Harry looked from face to face and then raised his chin in defiance. “I’m here to protect Padfoot!”

Remus collapsed into one of the seats and buried his face in his hands.

“What do you mean?” asked James.

“Ginny said that she heard that you’re giving Padfoot to Voldemort.”

“You’ve been eavesdropping on our meetings?” asked James. Ginny Weasley was a Hogwarts student who had enhanced hearing, making her an ideal eavesdropper.

Harry nodded mulishly. “I won’t let anyone hurt him!”

“Harry, that’s really sweet and brave,” said Sirius, wrapping Harry in a hug, “but you don’t have the whole story.”

“Do you really think that your father and Remus would allow any harm to come to your godfather?” asked Regulus incredulously.

“We’re tricking him, Harry,” explained James. “You know Moony and I will always protect Padfoot.”

“Oh,” said Harry in a small voice.

“Oh, Harry,” sighed James. “You are in  _ so _ much trouble. Why didn’t you come talk to us if you thought Padfoot was in trouble?”

“I don’t know,” said Harry sullenly. “I didn’t think. I just knew I needed to save him.”

Sirius ruffled his hair affectionately. “What are we going to do?” he asked the others. “Kingsley obviously can’t teleport him back while he’s flying the plane and once it lands there won’t be time.”

“We can’t turn back,” put in Regulus. “This is our only opportunity to get at Voldemort; he won’t give me a second chance.”

“Can we leave him on the plane?” asked Remus.

Regulus hesitantly shook his head. “They’ll search the plane.”

“We’ll have to take him with us,” said James reluctantly. “Harry when the plane lands, you’re going to take my hand and no matter what happens you will not let go. We’ll discuss your behaviour and decision making when we return to Hogwarts, but for now that’s the most important thing, do you hear me?”

“Yes, dad,” sulked Harry.

Regulus went to the cockpit to explain the situation to Kingsley and Sirius got up and slid into the seat next to Remus. He gave a huge sigh and leaned his head on Remus’ shoulder.

About half an hour later Kingsley announced that they were almost at their destination. Sirius grinned up at Remus. “Tie me up?” he asked. Remus laughed and kissed him and proceeded to restrain Sirius as if Regulus had actually taken him from Hogwarts against his will. Remus kissed him again for luck and then they prepared for landing.

When the plane landed, in a barren field, Remus, James, and Harry quickly made their way to the cockpit. Remus injected himself with the power-suppressing serum. The four of them held on to each other as James used his power to turn them invisible and Kingsley teleported them directly outside of the plane.

They could hear the door of the plane opening and several Death Eaters restraining Regulus and grabbing Sirius and searching the plane. Across the field they saw a gathering of several more Death Eaters and made their way towards them. Voldemort stood regally like a king surrounded by his followers waiting for his prize to be delivered.

“Ah, Regulus Black,” said Voldemort with a cool smile when the Black brothers were brought before him. “You disappointed me long ago but you have earned back my favour now.” He shifted his eyes towards Sirius. “I’ve been looking for you for a long time,” he told him.

Remus felt a tickling sensation at the back of his neck, indicating that the power-suppressing serum was losing its effect. He and his companions suddenly because visible to the obvious surprise of the Death Eaters.

“You betrayed me, Regulus? Nott, take me and the Blacks back to our hideout. Everyone else destroy these intruders.”

There was shifting among the Death Eaters as they attempted to obey the orders. Remus strode forwards towards Voldemort.

“Well?” Voldemort screamed. “Why aren’t you doing anything.”

“That would be my doing,” said Remus pleasantly, continuing forward.

“Lupin!” spat Voldemort angrily. “You’ve become too much of a nuisance. I won’t let you take me like you took my followers.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun, shooting wildly at Remus. He was not a good shot and he missed wide, but Remus heard a choked gasp behind him and whirled around.

“HARRY!” screamed James. A bullet had hit Harry directly in the chest and he collapsed on the ground. “Remus, he can’t heal!” James yelled.

Remus reached into his pocket, grabbed another syringe of power-suppressing serum and injected himself. Mayhem erupted. Remus rushed over to Harry and James, but it was too late. Harry’s eyes just stared sightlessly while James sobbed over his body and begged him to live. Remus gasped in shock and grief and then turned to see Voldemort disappearing with both Regulus and Sirius into a portal that Nott had made. He made eye contact with Sirius just as the portal closed and the misery, fear, and fury he saw there felt like a punch to his gut.

Remus couldn’t believe that everything had gone so wrong in just a couple moments. Harry was dead and Sirius had been taken by the enemy. Suddenly he had an idea.

“Kingsley!” he called, sprinting towards the other man. “Take me back to Hogwarts! NOW!”

He reached Kingsley and grabbed his hand and felt the familiar sensation of teleportation.

When he opened his eyes he found them in the Order’s designated teleportation spot, with several members of the Order gathered around waiting for news.

“Well?” demanded Lily. “What happened?”

“Nothing good,” said Remus tersely, heading quickly towards the school.

“What do you mean?” called Tonks after him.

“Harry was shot,” said Kingsley, sounding like he was still in shock.

“What?” cried out the voices of several people.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Remus.

“How can that not matter?” spat Lily.

“Because I’m going to fix this. I need to speak with Hermione Granger.”


	12. Chapter 12

Hermione was waiting for him at the entrance of the school alongside Harry's best friend Ron Weasley. They looked relieved when he appeared.

“Luna said you needed us,” explained Hermione. “She said something awful happened and that you needed me to take you back so you could prevent it.”

Remus looked questioningly at Ron. The boy cleared his throat and handed Remus a torn piece of paper with a longitude and latitude written on it. “A couple of minutes ago, Luna suddenly told me that I needed to find where Sirius was,” he said, and Remus suddenly understood. Ron’s power was the ability to find anyone in the world, as long as he had some kind of relationship with them. He had not been able to locate the Death Eaters’ hideout until someone he knew had been taken there.

“Thank you,” said Remus, memorizing the location. “Thank Luna for me, too. Hermione, can you take me back?”

“I don’t know,” said Hermione, wringing her hands. “I’ve never tried to take anyone with me.”

“It’s alright,” soothed Remus. “We’ll try, but first memorize these coordinates. How far back can we go? I would like to go back to yesterday.”

“It won’t be pleasant but I think that we can managed to go back twenty-four hours,” said Hermione, reciting the coordinates to herself.

“If my consciousness doesn’t make it back, tell me that the plan didn’t work but that you have the location of the Death Eater hideout, okay?” he asked. When she nodded, he pulled out another power-suppressing serum syringe and injected himself. Hermione grabbed his hand and he felt a spinning sensation and a tug on his navel. Colours blurred past his vision and he heard a rushing sound in his ears. Suddenly he felt like he came to a complete stop and he found himself sitting in the armchair in his room reading, as he had been the previous afternoon.

He was overcome by extreme vertigo, nausea and dizziness. He managed to stumble up out of the chair before collapsing next to his garbage can and violently vomiting into it.

“Moony?” came Sirius’ confused voice from where he lounged on their bed. “Moony, what’s wrong?” He came over and stroked Remus’ hair off his forehead and rubbed his back. “Do you think this is a delayed reaction to whatever Snape did to you?” he asked fearfully.

“No, I’m okay, Padfoot,” Remus reassured him between retching into the bin. “I just travelled back in time.” Sirius got up to get him some water.

Remus gratefully gulped the cool water and laid his cheek on the back of his hand, draping himself over the garbage bin. “This is just awful. I’ll never ask Hermione to go back again unless it’s a life and death situation. I feel like I left my insides somewhere else.”

“So I guess our plan for getting Voldemort tomorrow doesn’t work?” asked Sirius lightly.

“Not as such,” agreed Remus. “But I have a better plan now.”

There was suddenly frantic pounding on his door and Sirius got up to answer it. Harry was waiting breathlessly outside. Remus had never been so happy and relieved to see him.

“Moony, Hermione sent me to see if you came back, too,” he explained. “She said it was an emergency.”

Remus managed to lift his head a bit. “Yes, I came back,” he answered. “Tell her that everything’s under control.”

“Okay,” said Harry, starting to turn away.

“Wait, Harry,” called Remus. He managed to sit up and pointed his finger at Harry. “Don’t you dare ever again interfere with an Order mission, do you hear me? We’re obviously not going to let Sirius get hurt.”

Harry stared at him. “How did you know?” he asked sheepishly.

“I just came from the future,” said Remus, rolling his eyes. “And I’m going to make sure that you understand why it was a stupid, reckless plan for you to do that. We’ll also be discussing the issue of Ginny eavesdropping on our private meetings.”

Harry nodded miserably and left.

“So bad things happened?” asked Sirius.

“Well Harry was killed and you and Regulus were captured,” confessed Remus. “Wait, copy down this information,” he said and recited the coordinates he had memorized. “I need to talk to Kingsley.”

A couple of hours later, Remus had just finished detailing his incredibly simple plan to James, Lily, Sirius, Regulus, Kingsley and Alastor Moody. As expected, James and Sirius did not like it.

“It sounds very dangerous, Moony,” protested James.

“It’s less dangerous than the plan you made for tomorrow,” argued Lily. “Where _my son_ _dies._ ”

“I don’t want to send you there alone,” said Sirius.

“I won’t be alone,” assured Remus. “Moody and Kingsley will be my backup. Besides, there’s nothing that they can do that I can’t defend against.”

“Except shoot guns,” said Regulus dryly.

Remus shot him a look. “It didn’t hit  _ me. _ It’ll be fine. I go in, I take everyone out, I kill Voldemort, and we’re done. Easy.”

“I think it’s a good plan, Lupin,” put in Moody. “He needs to be taken out and Dumbledore will never approve, so we'll have to do it without the Order. If you manage to screw it up I’m sure we can convince Granger to skip back in time and rush into this meeting to warn us.” They all looked expectantly at the door. Nothing happened.

“Well, that’s settled then,” said Lily, getting up. She went over and kissed Remus’ cheek. “You look after yourself. I’m headed to go hug my son for being alive and then ground him. Do you think it's wrong of me to punish him for his future actions? Maybe I’ll be able to convince him that he doesn’t need to rush heedlessly into danger.”

“Yes, I wonder where he picked up that trait. That sounds like  _ literally no one else in this room, _ ” said Regulus sarcastically, also getting up to leave. “Good luck, Lupin. Stay alive. I’d be very annoyed that I risked everything to save you only for you to die now.”

Remus stood up and was grabbed in a hug by James. “I know you’re doing this for us. For Harry and Sirius. For the safety of all mutants. Thank you,” said James earnestly.

“It’ll be fine,” Remus repeated. “Trust me.”

Sirius then grabbed the front of Remus’ shirt and pulled him into a kiss. “I trust you, but don’t you dare die,” he growled. “If you die, I’m going to absorb Hermione’s power and travel to the past to kill you myself.”

“I’ll be  _ fine, _ ” laughed Remus. “I promise. When I get back, we can go to the beach.”

Remus hoisted his backpack up, made sure he had everything he needed, checked with Kingsley and Moody that they were ready to go, and then injected himself with power-suppression serum, before grabbing hold of Kingsley and being teleported to their destination.

**********

Kingsley had not been able to transport them directly to the Death Eater hideout as he had never been there; however, he was able to teleport fairly close by, but they still had to hike through the forest for several hours before they reached their final destination. Moody had been walking far in the lead, scanning their path for any traps they might come across. It appeared, however, that unlike Hogwarts the hideout did not have external defences. Obviously the Death Eaters believed their powers and the fact that no one knew where they were could protect them completely.

Night had fallen completely by the time they came into view of the large house that served as the hideout. Remus was beginning to feel exhausted; he’d had an extremely long day with the time travel. He was definitely looking forward to sleeping for a long time when he got home.

Remus moved far enough from Moody that he wouldn’t suppress his power and Moody was talking to him through his comms. “Voldemort is on the top floor, alone in a room,” he said. “There are eleven mutants on the lower levels. I’ll talk you through it.”

Remus crept stealthily towards the hideout and, following Moody’s directions, he slunk from room to room suppressing the powers of and knocking out the mutants he found with the tranquilizer guns that he and Regulus had stolen from the MRDC.

Finally, Remus was outside of the room that Voldemort occupied. He steeled himself. He knew what had to be done. He gently knocked on the door and was bade to enter.

Voldemort, who was reading in an armchair, his dark hair falling across his forehead, looked up in shock when Remus entered and stood holding his hands out defensively. Here in the soft light he seemed old; he was the same age as Dumbledore, Remus realized. He still retained some of the handsomeness of his youth and Remus wondered if there was anything else remaining of the idealistic young man who had helped found Hogwarts. Remus faltered a little, then. Could he really kill this man in cold blood?

“Lupin,” said Voldemort, seeming to sense his hesitation, “are you here to take me to your friends at the MRDC? They’ll not stop me, you know. I’ll have Black’s power for my own eventually.”

Remus’ resolve strengthened then. He allowed himself to remember the bullet wound in Harry’s chest, the look that had graced Sirius’ face as he was pulled through the portal, the high pitched triumphant laugh that Voldemort had given. Anger coursed through him.

All his life, Remus had been terrified of losing himself in his anger. He had bottled up every bit of rage that he had ever felt. Anger meant the wolf. It signified the end of his autonomy.

But the anger that ran through him now was his own. It was his anger at this man in front of him for exposing mutants to the world, leading to the creation of the MRDC. It was his anger at him for attacking humans and justifying the hatred that they had for mutants. It was his anger at him for commanding Peter to kidnap Hogwarts students. It was his anger at him for threatening Sirius’ life, for forcing him into hiding. It was his anger at him for carelessly shooting a bullet that had ended the life of an innocent twelve year old child.

He strode angrily forward, easily deflecting Voldemort’s weak defences and grabbing his throat. “I am not here to capture you,” he said through gritted teeth and he began choking the life from him, “I am here to stop you. I am here to protect all mutants from you. I am here to prevent you from achieving any of your goals. I am here to kill you.”

Remus continued squeezing until long after Voldemort was dead. He eventually released him with a gasp and stared at his shaking hands. His hands that had killed someone.

He considered his feelings. He did not regret his actions. It had been necessary. Remus allowed himself to remember the sight of Harry lying dead on the ground. That would never happen now. He had fixed it.

He lifted Voldemort’s body off the ground and slung it over his shoulder, heading back to Kingsley and Moody. It was time to go home.


	13. Epilogue

There was a small cemetery located on the edge of Hogsmeade; it housed the graves of many mutants. It was not very accessible, but Dumbledore had somehow manoeuvred his wheelchair into the far corner of the graveyard. He was pensively looking at the small plaque that proclaimed this the final resting spot of Tom Riddle. Remus came up beside him quietly.

“I was in love with him, you know,” said Dumbledore. Remus inclined his head; he had suspected. “He had such a spirit when we were young. He was so driven and ambitious; he wanted to save the world.”

“What happened to him?”

“Many of the same things that happened to you. He faced bigotry and persecution, captivity, betrayal by his friends …” Dumbledore paused and sighed heavily. “I thought I could save him. That I could turn him from his path of hatred. But I failed.”

They were quiet for a while before Dumbledore spoke again. “I want to apologize for dismissing you from Hogwarts three years ago. I believed then that your captivity and withdrawal into anger indicated that you were on a similar path to Tom.”

“That will never be me.”

“Why not? After everything you’ve been through you could be justified in hating humans and mutants both.”

Remus shrugged. “I’ve chosen not to let my past change me. I’ve always wanted to make the world a better place for both humans and mutants and I can’t achieve the future I want if I focus on bitterness and anger. I am loved by too many people to give up on their future happiness for the sake of my revenge.” 

“Your love protects you, then.” Dumbledore frowned a little. “I wish my love could have saved him.”

“It's a difficult choice between love and anger,” Remus admitted. “And it's one that I have to keep making every day. I am sorry that Tom made the wrong choice.”

Dumbledore hummed acknowledgement and Remus got up to leave. He laughed a little to himself and told Dumbledore, “I really wish I could punch Snape really hard, though. Just once.”

**********

For Harry’s thirteenth birthday at the end of July they went to the beach. Lily and James had rented accommodations for a week in Tofino and a large group of them piled into cars and made the long drive. Remus spent the trip sitting between Sirius, who alternated between sleeping sprawled across him and excitedly describing the scenery to him, and Hermione, who had learned that he had a law degree and had worked in mutant rights and was enthusiastically asking him endless questions and telling him about her life plans.

The beach was beautiful and it was atypically sunny and warm. The Pacific ocean stretched out before them, glittering in the sun. The children all took to the water, shrieking and playing. Remus ventured shallowly into the cold water, as Sirius splashed around happily. Once they’d had enough of the water, they took a walk across the beach looking for shells. In the afternoon they spread out their towels and laid in the sun.

“I was thinking of getting a tattoo,” said Sirius, “Do you think I should get a tattoo?”

“If it would make you happy, then yes,” replied Remus lazily, beginning to become drowsy.

“Then I’ll get one. Or maybe more than one. I have many ideas. I’ll get a phoenix over my heart.”

“For the Order?” asked Remus, curiously.

“Nope. It represents you,” said Sirius mysteriously, winking.

“Moony! Padfoot!” called James, preventing Remus from asking Sirius to explain himself. “Did you remember to put on sunscreen?”

“Yes,  _ mom _ ,” answered Sirius.

“Prongs, why don’t you fixate on the children?” drawled Remus. “You know, the ones who might actually need parental supervision?”

“You’re so ungrateful. I don’t know why I even bother,” complained James, but Remus could hear the smile in his voice.

“Because you looooove us,” singsonged Sirius, throwing sand.

“James,” Lily interrupted, before a sand fight could break out, “why don’t you come with me to help get snacks for everyone?”

Remus closed his eyes and sleepily listened to his surroundings. The waves crashing on the beach, the cries of seabirds, the shrieking and laughing from the children, Sirius’ constant excited chatter about future plans for the two of them. He was utterly content, he realized. He knew that there was trouble in their future: Snape and the MRDC were still threats and the Death Eaters would find a new leader. Winter was coming and Dumbledore was likely plotting and there were people who wanted to kill him, but for now?

For now, all was well.


End file.
